


Picking Up the Pieces

by Kazyre



Series: Mainline [2]
Category: Justice League, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Action, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family, Friendship/Love, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-05
Updated: 2013-10-14
Packaged: 2017-12-25 16:44:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 32
Words: 199,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/955414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kazyre/pseuds/Kazyre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wally is trying to heal and reassemble the shards of his life after surviving a brutal attack at the hands of his own father. His best friend and half the Justice League have no intention of letting him go through it alone, but they might not be enough. Rudy West is far from done with him.<br/>(Edited on 7/14/15)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Собирая осколки](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6489160) by [EvaVerso](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvaVerso/pseuds/EvaVerso)



[Earth's Thermosphere

February 10, 18:20 EST

Team Year One]

"Hey, Flash, your feet aren't cold are they?"

Barry snapped out of his internal musings and hurled a glare at Hal, who was doing a terrible job at keeping the shit-eating grin off his face. His hands clenched tightly around his uniform's boots, and he contemplated chucking one right at Hal's head. It would be _very_ satisfying, of that Barry was positive, but it would also probably rebound onto the ring construct and cancel it out. Barry didn't really want to die out in the middle of space, so he dismissed the thought.

A Green Lantern's only weakness was the color yellow. It was the color of fear, the opposite of a Green Lantern's power of will, and it had the ability to cancel out or weaken even the strongest ring construct.

Barry's Flash boots were _very_ yellow. As a result, he had to take them off and carry them whenever Hal transported him across galaxies. Hal found this extremely hilarious.

Barry did not.

"What the hell are you laughing for?" he shot back at his closest friend. "You're the one with the lamest weakness ever."

Beside him, Wonder Woman cracked a smile and turned her head away to hide her muted giggles.

Hal snorted derisively, "Like _you_ can talk. You're the human garbage disposal. It's not my fault that you picked _yellow_ and red for your costume."

"Oh, I'm so sorry that I didn't create my uniform with you in mind," Barry rolled his eyes and smiled. He muttered under his breath, "Narcissist…"

Hal didn't deny it. He winked at Diana, who was still failing to control her laughter, "Well, you _should_ have."

"I didn't even know you then," he elbowed Hal in the ribs. "But if I _had,_ I'd have made the whole suit yellow."

"Then, you'd look like Professor Zoom," Diana said wryly.

Barry felt an involuntary shiver rip up his spine and, immediately, Professor Zoom's murderous red eyes bored into his mind. He shook off the memories of all their violent battles and forced a relaxed laugh, "True. Nevermind."

"I _like_ you and Wally lookin' like ketchup and mustard," Hal snickered. "It suits you both."

" _You_ look like a moldy green bean."

Hal sputtered indignantly then, making Barry burst out laughing, "These are the _corps_ colors. How dare you!"

Diana sighed pleasantly, "Now I know why you two couldn't find anyone else to go on this 'space adventure' with you."

"It's not a 'space adventure'," Hal protested teasingly. Barry decided not to comment on the fact that those were the exact words that Hal had used when he pitched the trip to him. "This was serious corps business. Katma needed help with Sinestro."

"Shouldn't this have been a mission for John?" Diana asked curiously, referencing to Hal's backup on Earth.

"Normally, yes," Hal shrugged and then suddenly got a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "Rumor is though, that John and Katma are… _you know_ …"

He trailed off suggestively and waggled his eyebrows like a villain. For some reason, Hal always expected everyone else in the League to be up to date with the latest Lantern gossip – as if Barry could just phone up Kilowog and ask how sector 674 was treating him.

"What are you, twelve?" Barry laughed.

" _No_ ," Hal rolled his eyes. "Anyways, the rumor is enough to keep them off missions together."

"I'm happy for him," Diana said. " _You_ should think about settling down, Hal."

Barry let out a loud, barking laugh, "I've been telling him that for years, Di."

"I'll settle down when you do, Princess," Hal gave a long-suffering sigh. Diana made a face at the thought of herself being tied to 'some man'.

Barry grinned easily at them both, unable to understand what made them think that marriage was so terrible. He'd always been a family kind of man.

In the distance, a small dot appeared amongst the stars, and all three of them sighed in relief. The Watchtower grew larger and larger as Hal flew them closer.

"I'm ready for a hot shower," Diana groaned tiredly, rubbing her aching shoulders. Barry felt his own leaden limbs protesting all movement and had to agree. This mission had been pretty rough. Sinestro was back to his old game of 'take over my home world' again. It was exhausting.

"I'm going to book it home, eat a quick snack, and then pass out for a few hours," Barry planned out the rest of his night with a contemplative look.

Hal laughed once, "A 'snack' for you is twice your body weight. And since when do you nap? You starting to get old, buddy?"

"You're only two years younger than me," Barry zipped over and jabbed Hal in the chest. "Better be careful who you're calling old."

Diana shook her head at their antics, as she was easily much older than both of them combined, and pressed the communicator in her ear, "Wonder Woman to Watchtower. We are on approach. Please open the Javelin bay doors."

Barry couldn't hear the reply, but he watched the airlock door slowly lifting much sooner than normal. It usually took a few minutes to ready the doors. That meant someone had been watching for them. Weird.

He just hoped that there hadn't been some kind of global crisis while they were gone. In hindsight, it probably hadn't been a good idea to pull three of the League's heavy hitters off planet for two days. Barry just didn't have the energy for anything right now. He was so low on energy.

Hal guided them safely into the airlock and waited until the steel doors were sealed shut again and the room vented with oxygen before releasing them from the green orb. Barry landed easily and tugged his boots back on. The opposite doors lifted with a hiss and the pained groaning of metal gears.

Barry was just getting ready to bid Hal and Diana a good night and zip off to the zeta tubes when he spotted Superman standing about twenty feet away. He was clearly waiting for them. Great. He looked pale and sick, like he would rather be _anywhere_ else in the universe but here.

"Clark?" Diana called worriedly. She took a few steps towards him, "Are you alright?"

Barry suddenly noticed that the hangar was completely empty of people, even the various technicians they had to hire over the years to keep the satellite running 24/7.

Clark waved away her concern and stared past her directly at Barry. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Barry stared back silently, feeling the air grow thick and the atmosphere tense.

"Flash…" he tried again, and his voice was colder than the dead.

Barry felt his body break out in a nervous hum. He felt like the room was slowly filling up with water, and he was losing his bearings on what was up and what was down.

" _Barry_ ," Clark said again, more to steady himself than to get Barry's attention. "Something's happened…"

Immediately, his wife's face flashed through his mind. Barry felt his chest grow cold and his legs go numb. No…

"What?" he croaked, throat constricting with fear. Hal was beside him before it even registered in Barry's brain that he had moved.

"It's Wally…" Clark spoke as if every word was physically painful to say.

_No._

No no no no no _please_ no.

"He was attacked at his home. Jay Garrick and Max Mercury rushed him here to Dr. Mid-Nite, but…" The profound sorrow in the Kryptonian's eyes as he shook his head helplessly was enough to break him. "They couldn't save him."

Barry felt Hal suddenly grip his arms, and he realized that his legs must've given out. Slightly in front of him, Diana was staring at Clark in wide-eyed horror, one hand clamped over her mouth and the other shaking. He remembered the first time that he introduced Wally to the Amazon. Ten-year-old Wally had gone slack-jawed and stared up at Diana in wonder, quickly declaring her the prettiest lady he'd ever seen – aside from his beloved Auntie Iris, of course. Barry had laughed and thought it adorable. Diana had just knelt down, beaming, and kissed Wally on the cheek. He'd turned red for hours and refused to look at Diana directly for the rest of the visit.

Clark moved forward and grasped Barry's shoulder, drawing back a little when he saw that he was trembling at a rapidly increasing rate, "Barry, I'm so sorry."

Barry shook his head numbly, trying and failing to focus on Clark's face. He couldn't breathe. The edges of his vision were starting to go grey and fuzzy. They couldn't save him…? Wally was dead? Barry brought a shaking hand to the top of his mask and pulled it back, exposing his face. No, that… couldn't be right. They had plans tomorrow – all weekend. He was coming to stay with him and Iris Saturday through Sunday. Wally had been so excited. Barry was going to take him around to the Pacific Islands for the first time and then swing by Florence to pick up Iris' favorite gelato. He'd been trying to take Wally on long distance trips around the world at least twice a month to get him more familiar with the planet. Pretty soon, Wally would be fast enough that he'd render zeta transport redundant for himself.

Then, they were…going to watch some movie together that Iris had guilted them into. Barry's mind spiraled, frantically trying to gather itself back together and make sense of what Clark had said. But he just couldn't. There was no way his nephew could be dead. He was too young for anything like that to happen. He'd just turned sixteen. Wally was so vibrant and energetic and _alive_. Nothing could stamp that out.

"What happened?!" Hal demanded wrathfully. His tone surprised Barry, and it violently yanked him back from where he was drowning. His best friend's anger contrasted so sharply with Barry's own shocked anguish that it took the speedster a few moments to figure out why. Then, it was all too clear.

Clark had said that Wally was attacked.

A burning rage filled Barry instantly. Someone had murdered his nephew. His vibrations reached a dangerous frequency, and Hal had to release his arms and back away, "Where is he?"

"Dinah brought your wife from Central as soon as they figured out what happened," Clark spoke quietly. "They're all still up in the medical bay."

Oh no. A wave of cold dismay doused the conflagration in his chest, and he sped out of the hangar without another word.

Iris…

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[The Watchtower

February 11, 08:30 EST]

Barry Allen walked down the Watchtower's long winding hallways on his way to the medical bay. He had one finger pressed to the communicator in his ear and was politely nodding to any lingering heroes that he passed in the corridors. Bruce Wayne was talking through his communicator about how Dick hadn't been at the Batcave _or_ the manor when he'd finally gone home. Alfred apparently was saying that the little bird had never zeta'd into the Batcave. "Sorry, Bats. I don't know where he is. I walked him to the zeta tubes myself. He might've gone to Mt. Justice. Did you check with the Team?"

He continued on his way to check on the speedster sentry that he'd placed to guard his nephew. Iris had finally agreed to take a few hours of sleep at 6am and leave the constant verbal abuse and threats to her brother's well being to Hal. Barry had left his best friend and his 'suddenly unstable' ring constructs to watch over Rudy West until they figured out what to do with him. The League wanted to put him on trial for his crimes.

Barry wanted to put him in the ground. He'd come so close to it, too. If Clark hadn't chased after him and arrived _seconds_ before he'd broken out of Diana's hold, then Barry would've vibrated through the glass of Rudy's cell and killed him.

As it was, he had to content himself with Hal's constructs 'accidentally' malfunctioning and beating his brother-in-law.

_"Did you actually see him zeta out of the tower?"_ Bruce asked tiredly over the communicator.

"No," he admitted. "I took off right after we got to the tubes. Jay had taken Iris down to see Rudy, and I wanted to be with her for it."

On the other end, Bruce was silent. Barry could very easily imagine him sitting at the Batcave's computer staring at the massive screen pensively with his fingers locked together. _"He never left the Watchtower…"_

Barry rounded the corner where Max Mercury was still retaining his vigil and gave the fellow speedster a small wave, holding up the bag of breakfast items he'd brought with him. Several times throughout the early morning, Barry, Jay, and Johnny had offered to take shifts watching the door, but Max had refused to take even a small break.

"Well, I'm about to check on Wally again," he told Bruce. "I'll see if Max has seen Robin."

Before he could get the words out though, Max was nodding and tearing into the bag hungrily, "You had _two_ little ninjas sneak their way in here last night."

Barry paused in surprise, "…Is Robin in there?"

"See for yourself," Max chuckled as he dug into his third bagel. "Came running up here five minutes after you left."

"Max says he's here," Barry relayed the info to Bruce and zipped into the ward where Wally was resting. "Hold on, I'm going to check."

He stopped right outside Wally's room and peered through the doorway stealthily.

What he saw was adorable. Wally and Dick were both fast asleep on the bed, curled up in each other's arms. Roy was sitting in a chair pulled flush against the side of the bed so that he could watch his two younger friends comfortably. He had his feet planted on the edge of the bed and was dozing lightly with his arms crossed over his chest.

Barry felt a smile spread across his face, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He centered the three young heroes in the frame and snapped a picture, "You can relax. He snuck back in to stay with Wally. I'm sending you proof right now."

_"Proof?"_ Bruce questioned in his deep voice.

Barry selected Bruce, Hal, and Oliver from his phone's contacts and clicked send, "Yep. Check your inbox."

He waited patiently, silently watching Wally and his two best friends from his spot in the doorway. Bruce was quiet on the other end for a long minute, and then Barry heard him go 'Hmm…'

_"When did our sidekicks stop obeying every command we gave them to the letter?"_ Bruce mused.

"Eh. They're getting older. It happens," Barry leaned against the doorframe. His tone was light, but a frown began to darken his face. Wally almost didn't get the chance to grow up. He shook the thought from his mind and scrubbed at his eyes. "Besides, none of them really have what you'd call 'submissive' personalities."

_"Regardless,"_ Bruce sounded disappointed in his ward. _"Robin could have compromised Kid Flash's recovery."_

"Oh, it's fine. I think he'd rather cut off his own arm before he risked hurting Wally," Barry said calmly. "I'm still waiting for the day when they come up to me and say they're getting married."

Bruce was quiet again, probably thinking about that last statement, before speaking, _"That…would not surprise me…"_

"Right?" Barry started laughing lightly, trying not to wake the sleeping teens. Roy shifted a little in the chair but was still again soon after.

_"Do you need me to come and get him?"_ Bruce asked over the echo of the cave's waterfall and thousands of bats.

"Only if you want him home," Barry shrugged. "I'm okay with him keeping Wally company and keeping his mind off everything. I'm worried about how he'll deal with all this."

_"J'onn is willing to go into your nephew's mind and give him a psych evaluation."_

Barry made a face at the idea, "I'd rather he actually talk to someone willingly than have to force it out of him, but I'll use J'onn as a last resort if we have to. I keep thinking about all the damage his father's done to him, and I just… I don't know how to help him. Where do I even start?"

_"You won't be alone in this,"_ Bruce said reassuringly. He was being uncharacteristically comforting. _"Half of the League considers that boy family. He even managed to charm John Stewart somehow."_

Barry smiled. The backup Green Lantern for Earth was a tough, no nonsense type and more than a little intimidating at times. Yet, he always made a point to inquire about how Wally was whenever Barry saw him, and he'd fondly dubbed the youngest speedster 'Hotshot'.

_"He'll be alright,"_ Bruce continued grimly. _"Wally is stubborn, you know that."_

As he was speaking, Barry watched Roy slowly wake up and look around the room to get his bearings. The red haired archer leaned forward in the chair and checked Wally over carefully before he was satisfied.

_"And the friends that he has at his side are even more stubborn. They won't let this take him down."_

Roy stiffened suddenly once he sensed another presence in the room, and he twisted around in the chair to look at Barry. The defiant glare that he leveled at the speedster clearly said 'Make me leave. I dare you.'

He smiled for real then and shook his head at Roy in response, leaning into the room slightly to grasp the door's handle and pull it closed. Barry clicked the speaker on his communicator and headed back out of the ward, knowing that he was leaving his nephew in two extremely capable sets of hands, "I know."

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[The Watchtower

March 09, 04:00 EST]

"Are you sure about this?"

"I've been stuck up in the Watchtower for a month, Roy. This is the only place planet side that I'm allowed to go. Besides, I'm mostly healed."

"You were bleeding three days ago."

"Only on the inside…"

Dick smiled to himself as Wally and Roy argued behind him. He peeked around the corner and saw Dr. Mid-Nite at his desk. The League physician had his back to the door. Dick gave his friends a short wave, and the three of them darted past their first line of defense without difficulty. They rounded the corner and ducked into an observation room. Roy pulled out a small flare arrow and aimed for the opposite hall. He let fly, and the flare rocketed into the wall with a loud pop.

"Then, it's a good thing internal bleeding isn't a big deal or anything," Roy hissed sarcastically. "You should be resting."

Max zipped in from the waiting area on the other side of the double doors and immediately went to investigate the flare. The ward doors began to slowly close on hydraulics, and Dick led them through before they shut completely. Wally tried to stifle a wheeze as they cleared checkpoint number two.

"Then, why are you helping?" Dick grinned, placing a steadying hand on Wally's chest as they jogged along.

"So that he doesn't pop his stitches, because you two are clearly going to sneak out anyways," Roy slung one of Wally's arms around his shoulders and wrapped an arm around the speedster's still too thin waist to support him. "And to make sure he doesn't use any _superspeed_."

"It was just a little," Wally protested, pretending not to wince or favor his left side.

" _No_. Not at all. Not even a little," Roy growled firmly. "Not until you're one hundred percent again."

"Okay, okay…sheesh."

This seemed to incense Roy even more, so Dick intervened.

"Focus, guys." Dick whispered seriously, "If we're caught, our night's going to be reduced to Checkers and Candyland. Again."

Both redheads cringed in horror and continued the mission to sneak out of the med bay.

Strictly speaking, this was almost positively extremely _not_ okay. Wally wasn't supposed to be leaving the med bay for another two weeks, but he was going stir crazy. Being cooped up in one room and confined to a bed was making his breakdowns occur more frequently. Dick decided that he needed to get Wally the opportunity to stretch his legs and have a little fun.

They were _going_ to be caught, of that Dick had no doubts, and Bruce was _going_ to ground him forever. But it would be worth it if he could get his best friend to laugh even once.

The trio crept along to the zeta tubes undetected. Roy helped Wally hobble along into the metal tunnel while Dick plugged his gauntlet computer into the control panel to hack into the security system. It took him less than two minutes, which was something he'd have to mention to Bruce after his impending punishment that evening. Dick leapt into the tube right as the beam flared to life and scanned all three in turn.

"For the record, this is still a terrible idea," Roy said unhappily.

"I haven't seen them in a month," Wally rasped, smiling. His voice was still a little scratchy. "And since they don't have Watchtower clearance, I have to go to them."

"Bad idea," Roy grumbled again.

"Dude," Dick laughed. "Do you really want to see Superboy busting his way in here if we wait any longer?"

" _I_ do," Wally chuckled breathlessly.

" _Recognize: Red Arrow – 21, Robin – B01, Kid Flash – B03"_

The light blinded Dick for a moment before he heard the computer announce them again. When the light faded, Dick saw the dim briefing room of Mt. Justice. Everything was silent for a long minute. It _was_ four in the morning after all.

Then, from deep within the cave, Dick heard loud running footsteps coming closer. He smiled back at Wally, "Get ready."

Seconds later, Conner was sprinting into the room wearing only pajama pants with his hair sticking out in all directions. He skidded to a halt, eyes wide with shock. M'gann flew in right after him, followed closely by Kaldur and Artemis.

"Wally!" M'gann shrieked, recovering from her surprise the quickest. She ran straight up to them with her arms thrown wide only to be rebuffed by Roy. He dropped Wally's arm, still keeping him pressed to his side, and shoved a flat palm out into M'gann's face. Miss Martian reeled back, confused, and looked to Dick for an explanation.

"You can hug him," Dick laughed and readjusted his sunglasses. "Red Arrow's just being overprotective."

"He's been nagging me all week," Wally rolled his eyes. Usually, this would infuriate Roy almost instantly, but he didn't seem to have heard either of them.

"He has four healing bullet wounds and one stab wound," Roy jabbed a finger at M'gann. "If you bust his stitches, I'll bust your _face_."

The young Martian nodded her understanding and carefully wound her arms around Wally's neck, even floating up into the air to remove her own weight from the equation, "We missed you so much!"

The rest of the team approached then. Kaldur inspected the mostly healed over scar on the side of Wally's neck. At the moment, it was the only wound visible. "How are you healing?"

"Pretty well," Wally said happily. "I went and reopened the one in my side when I tried to use superspeed a few days ago, but aside from that, everything's tip top – or it will be in a couple more weeks."

Kaldur placed a comforting hand on the speedster's shoulder and stared at him with his eerily clear eyes, "I am glad that you are alive and on the mend. I was…concerned that you would not return to us…"

Dick saw Wally's face tighten minutely before breaking out in a huge fake grin. He playfully shrugged off Kaldur's hand and pretended to look embarrassed, "Geez, Kal. Don't make such a fuss. I'll be back and running circles around you all in no time."

"Oh, whatever, Kid Mouth," Artemis rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest irritably. Dick smiled knowingly at her. She was pretending not to care _too_ much, yet judging by her disheveled appearance and the fact that she was still breathing heavily, she'd sprinted here after Connor had undoubtedly alerted them all to the computer's announcement of visitors. "We hardly even noticed you were gone."

Wally, Roy, and Dick all looked at her with varying expressions of doubt on their faces. They each knew for a fact that Artemis had bombarded her mentor with increasingly violent and threatening text messages inquiring after Wally's health and promising punishment should no one relay the status of his condition to her.

The blonde archer regarded them all with narrowed eyes for a long moment before heaving a great sigh and slouching slightly in defeat, "Just shut up…"

She walked forward and gave Wally a kiss on the cheek once Kaldur moved aside to give her room, hugging him lightly, "Fine. You scared me. Happy?"

All of a sudden, a painful and baffling spike of jealousy stabbed viciously into Dick's chest. He rubbed at it uncomfortably and made a face. What the…?

"Sorry," Wally smiled, returning the embrace awkwardly. "I didn't make you cry, did I?"

"No!" Artemis shoved away from him then, looking pointedly to the side. "Maybe…"

Dick laughed at her openly, and Roy seemed silently pleased to see her dropping the tough girl façade for once.

Then, Conner, who had been stonily silent up until now, briskly moved forward and enveloped Wally in a careful and very deliberately gentle bear hug. Wally stiffened in surprise and patted Conner on the back as best he could with his limited reach, "Hey, Supey. I missed you too."

"You were dead." Conner said solemnly, pulling back a little to stare directly at Wally.

The redhead seemed to shrink under Conner's intense gaze, and he looked away, searching for an escape. He tried valiantly to keep his voice calm and unaffected, "Only for a few hours…"

Conner released him then and stepped back in sad confusion. The rest of the Team fell silent and watched Wally with disturbed pity. Dick readied himself to jump in to Wally's defense, but he wasn't fast enough.

Kaldur looked to Roy and Dick, clearly alarmed by Wally's answer, before moving to approach the speedster, "Wally, do you-"

"I've been talking about it for the last twenty-seven days, Kal." Wally pulled himself together and shut down his emotions faster than Dick would have believed if he hadn't been watching him do it all month, "I don't really want to do it all over again. Okay?"

Roy returned to Wally's side and glared at the other four menacingly for upsetting him.

M'gann twisted her hands together anxiously, very obviously wanting to offer her psychic abilities as help but worried that she'd upset him more if she did. Conner continued to stare in silent concern. Artemis and Kaldur exchanged a glance, both clearly not sure if it was okay to act as though nothing had happened just yet.

"Look, we're running on limited time," Dick finally stepped in to his best friend's rescue. He gave them all a huge, carefree grin and jerked a thumb back at the zeta tube behind them. "We kinda snuck out of the Watchtower, so it's only a matter of time before someone thinks to look here. And then Wally's back in the clutches of Dr. Mid-Nite."

"Where he belongs," Roy muttered, flicking Wally's ear affectionately. The other redhead elbowed him in the kidney lightning fast in retaliation, obviously using superspeed. Roy's eyes bulged out in fury, and he grabbed Wally's nose, "What did I say?! No powers!"

"Agh! Fine, fine!" Wally broke free and zipped behind Dick, peering over his shoulder and using him as a shield. He rubbed his nose irritably and held out one hand in defense when Roy stalked after him. "Last time! I promise!"

M'gann giggled suddenly, seeing Wally acting like himself and Roy's big brother-like badgering.

"Why can't you use your powers?" Conner asked worriedly. The frown on his face deepened even more.

"His body can't handle the strain with all the injuries trying to heal," Dick explained offhandedly, waving the question off like it was nothing. "Now, I did say that we have limited time, didn't I?"

M'gann clapped her hands together once, and her whole face broke into a smile, "You should try some of the cookies Artemis and I baked! Ooh! Or the brownies, or the cakes. We made a couple pies too if you like those!"

She excitedly flew out of sight, heading towards the kitchen while Wally and Dick stared openly at Artemis in disbelief.

_"What?"_ the young girl snapped irritably, stalking off after her teammate. "I measured stuff."

Kaldur and Conner smiled knowingly after her, the latter leaning towards Dick and speaking in a mock whisper, "She hasn't known what to do with herself since we've all been benched this last month, so she took to hanging out with M'gann a lot more."

"Once it became apparent that Artemis' culinary skills were…underdeveloped, Miss Martian took it on as a project of sorts," Kaldur chuckled, hanging back to walk beside Roy as they all headed to the kitchen. "These past few weeks, it has helped them keep their minds off of their worry for Wally. They have gotten rather good."

"I'm sorry you all had to go through this," Wally said quietly then, staring down at his feet in guilt. "And I heard about you all getting suspended. I'm-"

"It was not your fault, friend," Kaldur shook his head pleasantly to wave aside the apology. "Please do not blame yourself."

Conner snorted, "Yeah, it was _our_ fault that we screwed up that first mission without you and Robin. Black Canary said that we were all too emotionally compromised. Really, it's been sort of like a vacation, you know, just without good circumstances."

Wally seemed to feel better at the explanations, but Dick could clearly see the tight eyes and clenched jaw that said he was still agonizing over it internally. He reached out and discreetly took Wally's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Dick had intended to let go right after, but the speedster looked at him in mild surprise, then at their entwined hands, and clutched his hand right back. An odd smile stretched across Dick's face, and he felt his heart beat sporadically.

They reached the kitchen, and Dick abruptly froze in his tracks. Every surface was _covered_ in baked items. M'gann hadn't been exaggerating; It looked like she and Artemis had made every cake, cookie, and pie you could think of. Dick glanced over at the two girls and saw that, while M'gann was beaming proudly at the look of wonder on Wally's face, Artemis looked rather embarrassed at the sheer amount of everything. They'd gone a tad overboard, evidently.

M'gann flew around the big kitchen and piled a plate high with a little of everything for Wally, shoving it into his hands with a huge smile, "Go ahead! You need a lot of energy to get better, right?"

Wally nodded dumbly, still overwhelmed, but shoved a piece of pie into his mouth to make her happy, "Yeah. Thanks…"

They all settled down around the counter to talk, mostly catching Wally and Dick up on everything that they had both missed the last month. Dick had rarely visited the cave recently. If he wasn't in Gotham for school, he was up in the Watchtower every free second he had to keep Wally company. After that, the Team wanted to know how much longer it would be before Wally could leave the Watchtower, how he was healing, and where he was going to be staying. Everyone was very careful not to mention either of his parents.

By the time the League sent someone over to collect them, it was two hours later. Half the kitchen was emptied of food, and all seven teenagers were laughing and telling stories like they'd never been separated.

_"Recognize: Green Lantern – 05"_

Everyone froze in place, and all conversation stopped as they waited with bated breath.

A minute later, Hal Jordan strolled into the kitchen, looking not at all as frantic as Dick had expected. He took in the spread of food with a raised eyebrow but smiled and swiped a brownie from the counter, "How's it going?"

The Team all stared at him warily. No one spoke up, and so Dick cleared his throat and decided it was up to him, "Uh…pretty good. You?"

"Oh, I'm fine," he leaned casually against the counter beside Conner. Somehow, his calm only made Dick more nervous. "Max found your note. I figured I'd come collect the fugitives before Flash blew a gasket."

Wally shrank down in his seat, "He's mad?"

"Doesn't know you're missing yet," Hal took a bite of the brownie, looking down at them all with more amusement than reproach.

"Are _you_ mad?" Wally tilted his head curiously.

"Nah," the Green Lantern shrugged, smiling fondly at him. "I knew where you'd gone. Honestly, I thought you'd try and sneak out much sooner. I know how much you hate hospitals."

Dick, Wally, and Roy all stood up then, preparing to leave. M'gann and Conner hugged Wally again. Kaldur bid all three of them farewell and wished Wally a speedy recovery. Artemis crammed a bag full of more baked goods and slung it around Dick's neck with strict instructions to make sure 'Kid Mouth ate it all, because he was the reason they'd made it in the first place'. Then, she gave Wally another peck on the cheek, flushed bright red, and stalked out of the room without another word. Dick gripped the bag convulsively, feeling something inside crumble beneath his fingers.

Hal elbowed Wally in the ribs playfully and hooked an arm around his shoulders with a proud grin, "Dog…"

Wally rolled his eyes, and they all said their final goodbyes and promised to be back soon before heading back to the Watchtower. Hal's words proved to be true, as no one was really mad at them when they returned to the med bay. Dr. Mid-Nite was a little irritated that his medical decree had been flouted, but Max had understood the need to escape. The older speedster did, however, flick a burnt out flare arrow at Roy's shoulder with a raised eyebrow as they passed him.

Hal helped Wally maneuver back onto the hospital bed before saying goodnight and leaving with the promise that he'd keep their breakout between them. He tousled Dick's hair as he passed, and Roy followed him out a few minutes later after swearing up and down that he wasn't going to help them sneak out next time. Dick and Wally exchanged impish grins, knowing full well that they could talk Roy into any scheme.

Dick glanced at the clock near Wally's bedside and cringed – 7:00am Gotham time. He started stripping off his hoodie, shoes, and sunglasses while Wally made room for him on the bed. After that first night, this had become a routine. They didn't talk about it or mention it to anyone, even though Dick suspected they'd been caught several times. He would stay the night with Wally and wake him up if he was having a nightmare, and sometimes Wally would shake Dick awake if _he_ was stuck in a night terror.

Dick climbed onto the bed beside his friend and stared up at the dark ceiling silently. Lately, on the nights that Bruce made him stay at the manor, Dick found it impossible to sleep. He wasn't sure if it was because he was used to another body beside him or because _Wally_ wasn't there.

"Thank you," Wally said quietly. He managed to turn a smile towards Dick. "I really needed that. Seeing the Team…it helped a lot."

"I know," Dick nudged him playfully. "I'm always lookin' out for you."

"That's supposed to be my job. I'm the older one."

"Pfft. By _two_ years," Dick snickered. "That hardly even counts; it's like a seventh of my total age. Besides, I should be allowed to play the big brother card every now and then."

If he was honest with himself, Dick didn't really think of Wally as a big brother anymore. They'd always been best friends, but now it seemed to be turning into something…completely different, and he didn't have any kind of precedent for how to figure it out.

"No, see, you can't use the big brother card unless you're someone's 'big brother'," Wally shook his head in response. "Roy, for example. Roy has chronic big brother syndrome. He'll tell you."

"We really arguing over a fictitious card?"

"We've argued over worse fictitious items before," Wally laughed softly, trying not to upset his lungs. He turned onto his side and knocked foreheads with Dick gently, abruptly turning serious. "I mean, I would agree with you about the whole card thing, but then we'd _both_ be wrong."

Dick stared right back at him impassively, "You think that just because I can't hit you right now, you can get away with running your mouth. This is not correct."

Wally broke back out into a tired grin.

"I'll be adding this to your payback tab to be settled the second you're better," Dick relaxed fully against the bed, very aware of his knee pressing into Wally's thigh and the speedster's feet almost hooked over his own. He went quiet for a minute, picking at loose threads in the hospital sheets, "So…Artemis was pretty…friendly tonight, huh?"

"Uh, yeah…she was," Wally said, seeming perplexed at the memory.

"Well, that's good, right? Don't you…like her?" Dick felt his insides tense much like he was trained to when expecting a heavy blow.

Wally didn't answer for a few moments. He looked like he was thinking hard about the question, "No, not really. Not like that. Not for a few months now."

He almost looked scared when he looked at Dick, "I mean, I used to like her. I guess something just changed."

Dick didn't reply to that. He left Wally alone to figure out his thoughts and made sure to stay awake until he heard his best friend's breathing even out in sleep. Then, and only then, he allowed an impossibly huge grin to stretch across his face and an intense wave of happiness crash into him.


	2. Chapter 2

[Central City

March 15, 14:30 CDT]

Wally West dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. His body was going into full panic mode. He tried counting the number of times his heart beat so he could have something to focus on. His heart only started beating faster. 387…401…465…499…515 beats per minute. It was getting fast even for a speedster. He switched to reciting the periodic table.

Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Caesium, Francium. Beryllium, Magnesium, Calcium, Strontium, Barium, Radium. Scandium, Titanium, Vanadium, Chromium, Manganese, Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, Copper, Zinc, Yttrium, Zirconium, Niobium, Molybdenum, Technetium, Ruthenium, Rhodium, Palladium, Silver, Cadmium, Hafnium, Tantalum, Tungst-

"Kid…" Uncle Barry said softly. Aunt Iris curled a delicate hand around Wally's shoulder and rubbed his arm soothingly.

It helped a little.

503…493…487…466…456…

Typical.

It was always harder to slow down – especially when he didn't want to. And, oh, Wally wanted to run. Uncle Barry would catch him – would stop him. He still had two days to go before he was cleared for superspeed. Wally didn't understand what difference fifty-seven hours, twenty-five minutes, and forty-nine…forty-eight…forty-seven…forty-six seconds was going to make.

He dropped his hands and tried talking himself into opening his eyes. 'It won't be that bad,' he reasoned. It's nothing he hasn't seen before. Clear blue sky – miles and miles of it. Bright green grass – ooh, he could count the blades to calm down. Huge, towering trees – thicker than some cars. Stone. Granite. Slate. Sandstone. Marble. Neat, long rows curving along Missouri's gently sloping hills.

Wally had seen graveyards before. He'd teen tombstones before – just not his mother's. He didn't _want_ to see it.

"Take your time, kid." Uncle Barry's calming voice helped Wally breathe a little easier. It sounded corny, but being near someone who was so strong helped _him_ feel strong – not necessarily strong enough to deal with this, but enough to help him stay sane.

Wally cracked one eye open. The sun blinded him, but not long enough. He saw the cemetery plot.

Rhenium, Osmium, Iridium, Platin-

Stop it.

He could do this. He would do this for his mom.

Wally took a step forward. He looked down at the headstone without breathing. It was…

Nice…

The headstone was a slender slab of dark marble. It was very well polished and engraved with curvy lettering. Tiny lilacs clustered around his mother's name. They were the same flowers that he'd brought her today – her favorites.

Wally's eyes burned. He felt his aunt's hand slide off of his arm as he moved even closer until he was standing right over the plot. Wally sat down on the grass and placed the flowers on his mom's grave. He grit his teeth together and tried to keep his expression neutral as the first few tears slid down his face.

He'd missed the funeral; he'd been in too critical condition to be moved at the time. Afterwards, Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris had given him every detail that he'd asked for, but it wasn't the same. He'd never gotten the chance to say goodbye – not until now.

He didn't deserve the closure of a goodbye.

In all his life, Wally had _never_ felt like such a colossal failure. Everyone told him it wasn't his fault that his mother was dead, but Wally couldn't see how that was true. It was _him_ who had kept silent all these years when he _literally_ had dozens of people that he could have run to. Just one call to Aunt Iris could have prevented this. It could have ended when he was six.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, stroking the marble with a thumb. "I'm really sorry."

Wally really missed seeing his mom's face. He hadn't gotten the chance to go home yet, but as soon as he was allowed to, Wally was going to go get a picture of her.

He heard someone approach slowly and settle down on the grass beside him. A strong arm wrapped around his shoulders, and Wally let his uncle pull him against his side. He leaned his head on Uncle Barry's shoulder and wiped at his eyes.

"What's your favorite memory of her?" Uncle Barry asked.

"It has my dad in it," Wally shook his head.

"Cut him out," He said lightly. "Just remember your mom. Okay?"

Wally shut his eyes and thought hard about it. It was their last family vacation. They'd gone to – No, wait... "I have a different one."

"Tell me about it."

"I was in fourth grade. It was like November, and I'd gotten really sick with the flu. I had to stay home from school, and Dad had to go to work. Mom was working then too, so I was home alone. I remember sleeping for a long time and then waking up and Mom being home. She'd mentioned at work that I was sick, so her boss sent her home to be with me," Wally smiled a little at the memory. "Mom made me get dressed, and then we went out. She took me out to lunch somewhere, and we went to see a movie – some pirate one. Then, we went to the river and she taught me how to catch frogs."

It wasn't a fancy memory, and they hadn't really done anything special. It had just been him and his mom spending the whole day together. What he remembered the most clearly was his mother's laugh. The smile had never left her face that day.

" _Mary_ touched a frog?" Aunt Iris asked in surprise.

Wally looked up at his aunt and exhaled in a laugh, "She was really good at it. I always thought that was weird. Mom would catch frogs and lizards, but she always made me kill spiders for her."

"Ooh, they are not the same," Aunt Iris smiled lightly. "Barry made me squish a spider for him once."

Uncle Barry twisted around to stare at her with a mixture of shock, disbelief, and the deepest betrayal on his face, "You… _promised_."

"Really?" Wally cocked an eyebrow at his uncle and bit back a laugh. "I've seen you fight _Vandal Savage_. You can't kill a little spider?"

"It was one time, and it was a big spider," Uncle Barry said defensively. Then, he pointed straight at Wally. "Don't tell Hal."

"I won't," Wally promised, making a mental note to tell his surrogate uncle about this the second he saw him next. Aunt Iris winked at him knowingly and came closer until she was looming over them both. They all fell into a semi-relaxed silence for the next half hour, just thinking to themselves and listening to the spring robins chirping in the trees.

Wally spent most of the time thinking about his mom. He wished he'd spent more time with her. Almost every weekend and a lot of nights had been spent at Mount Justice with the Team either training or on missions. He should've stayed home more often. When was the last time he'd gone out somewhere with his mother? Wally honestly couldn't remember.

Did his mother know how much he loved her when she died? Wally had always made sure to say it whenever she left the house and especially when he went on missions or patrol. He'd learned very quickly that there was always the chance that he might not come back one day. It hadn't occurred to him that his mother would ever be the one in danger. He thought that he'd taken care of things for her.

"What's going to happen to my dad?" Wally asked quietly. He couldn't look at his aunt and uncle or the headstone.

Uncle Barry's grip on his shoulder tightened, and when he spoke, his voice was grim and dark with anger, "He'll be in League custody for life."

"League custody? He won't be in prison?" Wally asked numbly.

"Oh, he'll be in prison," Uncle Barry said bitterly, like he disagreed with that fact. "Just not one on Earth. We can't risk him telling anyone your secret identity."

"He knows Barry's and Jay's as well," Aunt Iris said sadly. Wally knew that she was still reeling from his father's betrayal even worse than he was. _He'd_ known his father was a violent scumbag his whole life. For Aunt I, it all came out of the blue.

"That puts you and Joan in danger too," Uncle Barry told her, running a hand through his hair tiredly. "It was one hell of a fight with the government to get them to back off from this."

Wally's head whipped around to stare at his uncle questioningly. He hadn't heard anything about this before. No one had told him much of anything concerning what was being done with his father. Wally had guessed that everyone was trying to protect him from having to deal with it until he was ready. They'd done a good job of keeping it from him if he hadn't heard word of a legal battle with the government.

"They wanted us to release Rudy into their custody the second the police got involved," Uncle Barry explained, seeing his confusion. "They wanted him to go through the judicial system, fair trial and all, like he was any other criminal. Wouldn't stop hounding us about it and threatening to come up and get him themselves until Superman and Wonder Woman went down to Washington to tell them that it was a League matter, and there was no way in hell they were getting him."

"So, what's the story?" Wally asked, picking at his shoelaces. "What do I tell people happened?"

"It's a little complicated. Johnny did his best with the evidence, but he doesn't know a lot about forensics, so we had very limited options. There's only a small part that you need to remember, okay?" Uncle Barry looked apologetic for bringing up what had happened again. "We went mostly with what you told us. You were in your room working on homework when your dad called you downstairs. He attacked you and told you Mary was dead, and then it changes a bit. You're going to tell people that you escaped and ran until you passed out, then woke up in the Watchtower several hours later. Is that alright?"

Wally nodded his understanding, carefully constructing his expression to reveal nothing. He tried to imagine himself running with the kind of wounds that he'd sustained, but it all just brought back flashes of his father's scowling face and the sound of gunfire. "What about the rest?"

Aunt Iris looked upset at the conversation. She kept shifting her weight back and forth between her feet and rubbing her thumb between each finger like she always did when she was anxious.

"The story is that Superman was flying over Central with Atom on his way to Smallville when he smelled your blood. He flew down to find you and took you to the Watchtower once he saw how injured you were. That won't be too much of a stretch; it's happened before, and it's no secret that our medical bay is much better than any hospital on Earth," Uncle Barry went on very calmly and without any hesitation, like this was what had really happened. Wally guessed that Batman had come up with the details and drilled them repeatedly into each League member involved until they knew the new story by heart. "Then Superman went back to where he found you, and he and Atom followed your trail back to the house where your father surprise attacked and severely injured Atom. Superman then knocked out Rudy and took him, Atom, and Mary back to the Watchtower. Then, Mister Terrific called in a favor and had Johnny Quick sit on the crime scene while he notified local police."

Wally listened silently but with a sense of growing unease churning in his stomach. Now he understood Aunt Iris' anxiety. "That's… a pretty big lie."

"I know," Uncle Barry ran a hand through his hair uncomfortably, clearly not happy with the way things turned out but resigned to it. "But it's the only explanation that keeps your identity intact. If we don't have someone 'find' you by accident, then it's very obvious that you're either affiliated with or protected by the JLA. There's no way we can let the public know that three retired speedsters from three different parts of the country were called in to save you. As for Atom, we needed a Leaguer to be 'injured' by Rudy in order to designate this as a crime against the Justice League. Otherwise, we'd have to turn him over to the authorities, and I'm positive that Rudy would give away your identity the second he's given the chance."

That was probably true, Wally thought miserably, "Why Atom?"

Wally could count on one hand the number of times he'd even _seen_ the tiny hero. Atom was fairly new to the League, too. He'd been inducted at the same time as Roy. Wally could faintly recall a few stories where Uncle Barry or Hal had needed Atom's help with a villain or run into him on a mission, but that was it.

"He volunteered. We needed a Leaguer to be injured enough to warrant the kind of response against your father that we showed. Atom is going to pretend to be in a coma for two months, so he's going to stay out of the public eye until then. He said that he has several projects over in Ivy Town that he needed to focus on in his civilian identity, so he's just going to be taking a bit of a vacation from the League until this all blows over," Uncle Barry tried to smile reassuringly at Wally.

All Wally could think about was how much trouble he was putting everyone through. An entire _town_ was being deprived of its hero because of him. The Justice League's integrity was being compromised _big time_ just to protect him. If anyone found out about this…

"Hey," Uncle Barry turned him to the side so that they were face to face. "This is not your fault."

"I wasn't-"

"Don't give me that. I know that face," he stared directly into Wally's eyes so that he could make sure his nephew was paying attention. "The League is doing this because you're one of us, and you are absolutely worth it. Yes, no matter how well we spin it, the League's public trust will take a hit for this, but it's no worse than some of the crap Hal has pulled before. I'm sure you remember the knock-down, drag-out fight he and Wonder Woman got into a few years ago. Broad daylight. Middle of a suburban neighborhood in Washington D.C."

Wally did remember. The fight had been caught on camera and broadcasted all across the country. It had broken the standing record for the most watched video on the internet. He actually thought that it still _was_ number one.

"My point is that this isn't the last confrontation the League will have with the government. It will blow over with time, and then we'll move onto the next problem," Uncle Barry hooked an arm around Wally's neck fondly and ruffled his hair. "Superman will cause nine buildings worth of collateral damage, Hal will insult Diana in public again, Aquaman will forget that Atlantis laws aren't surface world laws… it happens. A lot."

"But this is a big deal," Wally argued insistently. "The League is _lying_ for me – to the whole country!"

"You aren't the only one unhappy about it; Wonder Woman is extremely upset. I don't like it either. I feel like it opens a lot of doors to some things that could change the League forever – doors that can't be closed," Uncle Barry spoke slowly. His voice was worried and his expression grim. "But this is the only way to keep people from guessing that you're Kid Flash. You haven't made quite as many enemies as I have yet, but you're on Zoom's list, which is more than a death sentence if he ever finds out who you are. I already told you that I'd do anything to protect you. You and your aunt will always come first for me. The League is secondary."

Wally felt his chest tighten at that. He felt safer around his uncle than he'd ever felt with his own father. He didn't have to watch his back with Uncle Barry or be careful with what he said. Wally never had to worry about his uncle getting angry at him for no reason. That was how it was supposed to be, right?

So, why the hell couldn't his father treat him like that?

He didn't have an answer. Wally leaned against his uncle gratefully and shut his eyes. They stayed for two more hours until the sun started to go down. Aunt Iris left to go bring the car around, and Uncle Barry helped him up, waiting patiently to start walking back until Wally had said his goodbyes.

Wally took one last look at his mother's grave and forced himself to turn away, feeling lower than ever before. He climbed into the back of his aunt's car and tried not to notice her sneaking worried glances at him from the driver's seat. Uncle Barry slid into the passenger's side and buckled in. He hated to drive, Wally knew. It was hard to restrict yourself to the speed limit, especially when you could _jog_ faster than the vehicle you were driving could ever go.

They made it about ten minutes before Uncle Barry heaved a sigh and twisted around in his seat. Aunt Iris looked at him sharply, clearly upset, but said nothing. Wally watched the brief exchange wordlessly. The past few times that his aunt and uncle visited him up in the Watchtower, Wally had sensed that there was something they weren't telling him and didn't _want_ to tell him. He hadn't asked and hadn't let on that he knew anything, hoping that no one would tell him, but he guessed this was it.

"Kid…" his uncle began reluctantly. Aunt Iris' hands tightened on the steering wheel. "There's something I need you to think about."

Wally said nothing, his stomach twisting itself into knots.

"The League is finally done with all their questioning, and the government has declared this a closed case. So, we're ready to lock your father away for good. He'll be in isolation for the rest of his life."

So far, so good.

Uncle Barry looked like he had to force the words out of his mouth, "I need you to think about whether or not you want to see him one more time."

Wally's heart started pumping faster. He saw his father's red, angry face glaring at him and the gun pointed right at his chest.

Oh.

He must've had a terrible poker face, because Uncle Barry took his hand within picoseconds and squeezed it. "You don't have to ever see him again if you don't want to. I just need you to say the word, and he's out of your life forever. It's up to you."

Wally fought down the panic and brought his eyes up to meet his uncle's, "Did he ask to see me?"

Uncle Barry winced. Aunt Iris' teeth ground together.

There it was.

This was what they'd been hiding from him.

He wished it could stay hidden longer. Why had he said anything?

"Yes," Uncle Barry almost growled. He took a deep breath and controlled his anger. "He's been asking to see you for the last two weeks."

That didn't make any kind of sense. Why would his father try to kill him and then ask to see him later? There's no way he regretted trying to kill Wally. He'd never seemed particularly regretful in the past whenever he'd hurt his son. Maybe he just wanted the chance to hurt Wally some more – tell him how much of a disappointment he was. Again.

That really wasn't the bigger issue though, Wally realized belatedly. Why hadn't his immediate response been 'Hell no' instead of asking if his father wanted to see him?

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[Star City

March 15, 15:00 CDT]

"Hey, would you mind opening those kidney beans for me and draining them?"

"Yes."

"Thanks. Oh, but don't drain them all the way; I want at least some of the juice left over to put in."

"That was a 'Yes, I _do_ mind'."

"I need those tomatoes diced, too, if you could. And the onions."

"I'm not helping you cook this."

"Well, I need a _little_ bit of help! I've never cooked for speedsters before; I'm almost quintupling my recipe."

"Ollie, I'm not taking this to Central."

"How else is it going to get there?"

Roy slammed a fist down onto the expensive, dark marble counter and glared at his former mentor and adoptive father angrily, "I'm not giving your damn chili to Wally!"

At this, Oliver whipped around from the state of the art stove where he was browning eight pounds of steak. He wiped his hands on the ridiculous apron he was wearing and brandished a pancake turner at Roy sternly, "That boy has been through some serious trauma. This chili will light the fires of life within him and give him the strength to recover."

From the end of the kitchen island, Dinah gave a small laugh without looking up from her book and took a sip from her iced tea.

"Your chili will _give_ him trauma," Roy growled, remembering well the first time he'd ever seen a grown man cry: The day Green Lantern came by for a cookout at the Queen mansion.

Since then, Ollie's chili had earned something resembling infamy within the League. As it stood, only Oliver and Batman really enjoyed it, but those dismal odds had never stopped Ollie from making new people try his recipe in an attempt to find someone else who was able to join their little masochistic, napalm-eating club.

"He'll like it," Ollie smiled suddenly, one hundred percent sure of himself, and turned back to the stove. Roy and Dinah exchanged a skeptical look behind his back. The blonde martial arts expert silently pulled a small pill bottle from her purse and slid it down the counter to him. Roy caught it easily and turned it over in his hands to read the label.

Heartburn relief.

He shot a dirty look at Dinah, but she was reading her book again, nonchalantly turning a page.

"Did you call me over here just to be your chili mule?" Roy asked irritably. He sat down beside Dinah on one of the barstools lining the kitchen.

Oliver busied himself with measuring chili powder and refused to face him, "Mostly."

Dinah's reaction was immediate. She closed her book with a snap and fixed Oliver with a deep, disapproving glare. When he ignored her, she opened her mouth wide and sucked in a lungful of air with a loud gasp, readying a screeching canary cry. Roy clamped both hands over his ears, and Oliver spun around with a scared expression, arms thrown out nonthreateningly.

"No! Wait, wait!" he begged. "I had another reason."

Dinah cocked an eyebrow and exhaled slowly. She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped one foot against the island as she waited for him to continue. Roy cautiously lowered his hands.

Oliver hesitated a second to make sure Dinah wasn't going to deafen him, "I…wanted to make sure you were okay."

Roy watched him carefully, a firm frown set on his face. Clearly, Dinah had bullied him into this. "Make sure I'm okay…?"

"Yeah…" Ollie floundered uncomfortably. "Are you okay money-wise? And stuff?"

Roy just stared at him.

"How are you managing solo? Are you-"

His temper flared, and he shot to his feet, "Am I screwing it up?! You want to know how much I'm struggling so that you can lord it over me?"

"What?" Oliver looked completely taken aback for a minute. "No! I just-"

Roy grabbed his keys from the counter and moved to storm out of the kitchen, deciding to head to Central City early. It had been a stupid idea to let Oliver talk him into coming by the mansion. He was clearly not going to take Roy seriously.

"Roy William Harper!" Dinah barked sharply. Despite his anger, Roy stopped in his tracks. Then, he felt foolish for doing so. Oliver's girlfriend wasn't his _mother_. True, she was the closest thing he'd ever had to a mother figure, but she was only six years older than him!

He spun around to tell her exactly that, but caught one look at the menacing glare she was giving him and withered.

"Sit down!" she kicked one of the chairs away from the counter and pointed at it severely. "That's not what Oliver was going to say."

Roy stayed where he was.

Oliver eyed them both nervously. Why the hell was he dating a woman he was afraid of?

Dinah tossed her hair over her shoulder and slammed one fist into her other hand, cracking the knuckles ominously. Roy could see the lethal muscles in her legs tensing in preparation.

Right.

He leaned down to right the stool and took a seat on it, resting his elbows on his knees unhappily. Dinah nodded at Oliver to speak and then took up a guard position by the kitchen's only exit.

"Watching you two talk to each other is like watching a five-year-old try to diffuse a time bomb."

Roy wondered which one he was supposed to be. The child or the bomb.

He decided that Oliver was the five-year-old.

"I wasn't trying to imply that you're a bad hero. I just hadn't heard from you in awhile, and nobody could tell me if you'd had any injuries lately." Oliver reduced the fire and came around the counter to stand in front of Roy. "I know how expensive our gear is too and how easily it gets smashed."

A small silence dragged uncomfortably between them, and Oliver tugged on his goatee, "Do you have any way to get your injuries treated?"

No.

Roy actually had three bruised ribs right now that he had taped himself. His tiny kitchenette was more triage unit than cooking space, and half of his bookshelf was filled with advanced first aid books and medical texts. Last week, he'd had to badly stitch up a gash in his leg that would leave a particularly nasty scar. He'd also taken to trying to collect and reuse his arrows after fights.

"I manage," he said stubbornly, letting the anger leave his voice.

Oliver looked upset by this, and his eyes began darting all over his adopted son's body, no doubt trying to see if he could find any hidden injuries. Roy sat upright and crossed his arms with a scowl. He was hiding four.

"Why the sudden concern for my well-being?" He asked sharply, annoyed at being detained against his will.

"I've always been concerned-" Oliver protested angrily. He stopped himself and took a deep breath to calm down. Roy warily watched him pinch the bridge of his nose and scrunch up his eyes like he was trying hard not to think about something. "Back in February, up at the Watchtower…"

Roy's chest throbbed. He remembered February tenth very well. He'd been a little downstate in Coast City as a favor to Hal. The Green Lantern was good friends with Oliver and had always gotten along well with Roy. In fact, Hal was the only Justice Leaguer who'd taken Roy's bid for independence seriously at first. He'd asked for Roy's help a couple times on missions, and while Roy knew very well that it had partly been to keep an eye on him, he appreciated being treated like an adult.

So, when Hal had asked him to watch over Coast City while he was away on corps business, Roy had accepted very quickly. Hal had said that it would be a good chance for him to patrol solo away from Green Arrow's stomping grounds. Roy had tossed aside his JLA communicator and dove right into familiarizing himself with the legendary Green Lantern's home turf. It had been great until, just before dark, Oliver tracked him down on top of the Sharks' football stadium. Roy remembered being furious and unreasonable until his former mentor had said that his little brother was hurt.

"Dinah and I went in to see Wally, and the whole time we were in there, I kept seeing _you_ in that hospital bed," Ollie confessed quietly. Roy's eyebrows turned downwards in confused surprise, and he waited silently for Oliver to continue. "I don't worry about you because I don't respect you or because I don't think you can handle yourself. I worry because I care about you."

Oliver looked away then, rubbing at the back of his neck like he was embarrassed. Roy took the break in eye contact to glance over at Dinah for an explanation, but she was smiling at Oliver like a proud dog owner who had just taught their puppy a particularly difficult trick. He turned his gaze back to Oliver and sighed to himself. This was…unexpected.

"You're like my own blood – my own kid," Oliver examined his feet closely and fiddled with the ties on his apron. Dinah leaned against the doorframe and switched to looking straight at Roy, her smile turning a touch menacing in a look that clearly said 'Don't screw this up'.

Roy chewed the inside of his cheek and took the time to think before he spoke. Of the two of them, he had not expected Oliver to be the one to reach out first to try and fix things, but now he had. Roy couldn't just ignore that; he couldn't brush it off as nothing. Plus, by this point in Oliver's little speech, it would make him look childish and petty if he stormed out.

He was also pretty sure that Dinah would knock him through the wall if he did that.

It wasn't as if he _wanted_ to be fighting with Oliver. Roy was just tired of not being taken seriously as a hero. He took another look at his former mentor and thought about how hard it must have been for him to stuff away his pride and take that first step.

Roy decided to take the second one and meet him halfway. He slid off of the stool and walked past Ollie to the pile of ingredients by the stove. He grabbed the five cans of tomatoes and the bag of onions and carried them to the center island, picking up a paring knife, "How small did you need these diced?"

Both Oliver and Dinah stared at him blankly for a few moments. Then, Oliver's ridiculous mustache jumped with a wide smile, and he cautiously moved closer to Roy to continue measuring out the rest of the spices, "I'm not sure. Do you know how Wally likes them?"

Roy snorted quietly, trying not to notice Dinah's overly pleased grin, "Wally's a garbage can. He'll eat anything."

Oliver chuckled behind him, and Roy heard the sound of simmering steak chunks being moved around in a pan. He passed the cut up vegetables over to be put in the stock pot and got started on mincing cloves of garlic.

The relationship between he and Oliver was far from fixed, but it was a start. It would take time to get back to their original father-son dysfunctionality.

Four relatively amicable hours later, Roy was standing just outside the Queen mansion with Oliver and armed with three massive pots of lethal chili. They'd just finished strapping the chili onto Roy's bike and had said their goodbyes when the younger archer held out his hand firmly.

"How about we team up a few times out on patrol once this is all settled with Wally?" Roy offered gruffly, trying to make it sound like it was no big deal. His little brother was his first priority at the moment, of course. "Not like with me as your sidekick or anything and not because I need help. Just for the hell of it."

Oliver smiled, but managed to hold back any snarky comments he might've had, and grasped Roy's offered hand tightly, "Red and Green Arrow working together again? I'm not sure Star's criminals could handle it. We'd look like Christmas Justice."

There was a joke to be made from that, but Roy decided to let it go. He swung a leg up onto his bike and jammed his helmet over his head.

"Oh, by the way, you wouldn't be interested in ten thousand free arrows, would you?" Oliver slowly backed up towards the mansion, messing with his hair and shuffling his feet – trying to look nonchalant. "Because I may have _accidentally_ ordered my next shipment of arrows in the wrong color. Do you know how ridiculous I'd look firing off red arrows? They don't match my costume!"

Roy revved the engine on his bike and rode down the winding driveway leading away from Queen Mansion, unaware that he was half smiling.

"Idiot," he muttered under his breath.


	3. Chapter 3

[Central City

February 10, 16:00 EST]

It was a slow news day. Iris and her cameraman, Denny, had reported on two traffic accidents earlier that morning near the city's center, then they'd run over to Leawood and covered the interview with the mayor about the postponing of the opening date for the new community center. Two hours later, they were in Chubbuck at Centrex Hospital following an anonymous tip that Dr. Groves, the impossible to reach defendant in a major malpractice suit being covered nationwide, was there for an appointment with the chief of medicine.

Around noon, Iris and her news van crew met up with one of the chopper teams in Petersburg for lunch at a newly opened restaurant and then it was right back to work. The helicopter team left to cover a pileup on the interstate, and Iris and Denny booked it over to Granite Peak National Park to cover the search for a group of missing campers. Three hours after that, the campers were found twenty miles from the perimeter of the park, and Iris' editor Pete was ordering them to Central City University where a large number of students were hosting a pro-Justice League demonstration. Then, they'd stopped by Breedmore Mental Hospital to report on the deplorable conditions of some of the patients there.

Iris and her mobile crew didn't get back to GBS until 4:00pm.

Alright, so the day was not so slow. Iris, however, would've killed to have just _one_ bank robbery to cover. She'd been waiting all day for Captain Boomerang to rob Palladium's Jewelry Store or for Heat Wave to break out of prison. With the way her day had gone, Iris would've even taken the Trickster's antics.

It was almost definitely terrible for her to _wish_ for awful things to happen just so that she'd have something interesting to report on, especially since the Flash was off on another planet. Barry had gotten Elongated Man to watch over Central for the past two days, and Iris honestly didn't want Ralph to have to deal with any of the Rogues.

When Iris reached her desk and collapsed in her swivel chair with a sigh, she made a mental note to give Sue Dibny a call and arrange a lunch date soon. She and the rich socialite were almost opposites personality-wise, but they'd always gotten along very well since the first day that Barry and Ralph had introduced them. Since Sue was also the wife of a superhero, Iris could talk to her about things that no one else would understand. It was very therapeutic. Plus, Sue was usually all smiles and cheerful personality, which was very relaxing to be around. Iris just needed some girl time and, although she was much closer to Hal's girlfriend Carol, Sue was always ready for a good time. Carol was currently busy partnering her company, Ferris Aircraft, with NASA to develop a satellite capable of communicating with Mars. The last that she had heard news about it placed the launch something like four to six years away.

Iris clicked the power button on her computer and rested her head on the desk while it booted up. She was ready for this day to be over already. Barry would be getting back home tonight, Wally was coming over in the morning, and Iris had the whole weekend off to spend with her two favorite guys. She smiled to herself and piled her red hair on top of her head to stretch out her shoulders.

"Need some coffee?" Denny asked as he passed her desk, unclipping his press badge and pulling off his GBS logo cap.

"That would be great," she groaned. "-if coffee worked for me anymore. I think I'm immune to it after all these years."

Denny rolled his eyes at her but collected her order anyway and disappeared.

Cat showed up a few minutes later, and Iris rolled her head to the side to peek at her coworker with one eye. The blonde news anchor glided over with a bright smile on her face, "Hey, Iris. Congratulations on the lost camper story. I thought you did a great job!"

Iris was glad that _someone_ had enjoyed it. She and Denny had tromped through the woods for three hours following the park rangers and some of the search parties with nothing but a handheld camera. Iris had walked through _nine_ spider webs. She'd be lying though if she said that it wasn't extremely rewarding to be there in person when they'd found the family.

"Thanks, Cat," Iris beamed, sitting upright and slowly turning the chair side to side with her toes. "I heard you got the Vlatava assignment this morning."

Cat's face fell, and she pulled up a chair to slump over on the opposite side of Iris' desk, "Yeah, and do you know who else is going to be there? Jack Ryder, Vicki Vale, Tawny Young, _Lois Lane_! I haven't even seen Lois since I moved here from Metropolis. And I think Godfrey's trying to worm his way there too. I can't stand him!"

Iris agreed with her wholeheartedly. G. Gordon Godfrey was a menace. She didn't think that he had any business being on the air, but he had a cult following and ridiculously high ratings. Plus, it was difficult to view him indifferently when he spent his whole show attacking her husband and the rest of the Justice League. He'd gone through a phase last year where he targeted the original seven of the League and did a month long expose on each one individually. Iris had almost decked him in the face.

"Yeah, I understand Godfrey, but what's wrong with Lane and Vale?" Iris asked curiously. She'd worked a stint at the Daily Planet right after college and had thought that the raven-haired reporter was nice – insanely competitive, but nice.

" _I'm_ not a match for any of _them_!" Cat's expression crumpled miserably.

"Not true," Iris said encouragingly. Cat Grant may not have been in the game as long as the rest of them, but she was an excellent reporter.

"Are you kidding? No one's going to watch _me_ ," Cat frantically gestured to herself. "-when they could spend the hour looking at Vicki. And Lois Lane's practically the Amazon of Metropolis. She's the _only_ one that Superman will give interviews to."

"You just need a confidence boost," Iris smiled. And some anxiety medication. She didn't say that bit out loud.

"What I need is my own superhero," the blonde rested her head on her fist and made a face.

Iris stared at her quizzically.

" _You_ know! I need to find a hero that's just starting out and make friends with him early on," she elaborated cheerfully. "That's how all the greats do it; Vicki's in good with Batman over in Gotham, Tawny covers the Lanterns, Lane's got Superman, and _you_ have _the Flash's_ cell phone number!"

Close. His cell number wasn't the _only_ thing Iris had.

She blushed suddenly and tried to cover it by shaking her hair out around her face.

"And she refuses to use it to help GBS get the scoop on Flash."

Both women looked up to see Pete standing to the side of them, arms crossed and a humorless smile set on his face. Iris smiled right back at him and shrugged, "Only business, Pete. He gives me the first interview after his battles, and I give him the heads up on where the next one is going to be."

"Lucky," Cat hissed playfully.

Iris smacked her shoulder, "Right place, right time."

"Good job covering the university today, Iris," Pete nodded at her stoically. "The students are organizing another rally next month, and I want you to follow up on that one as well. We need more positive Justice League coverage to keep the station impartial. Godfrey's been in overdrive lately."

"No problem," she assured him readily. Iris was usually the 'go to' girl for the pro-JLA stories.

Pete nodded silently, rocking back on his heels calmly and taking a swig from his coffee mug. He turned his attention to Cat then and glanced at his watch in concern, "Shouldn't you be packing for your flight?"

Cat perked up then, jumping to her feet quickly, "Yes, sir. I-"

"Iris Allen?"

Iris was smiling at Cat and her boss when she heard the loud voice calling her name urgently. All three looked over to the side to see Black Canary standing in the middle of the room in full costume, surrounded by shocked and startled news workers. The tall, blonde superhero was pretending to scan the room for Iris as if she didn't know what she looked like, but she kept making meaningful eye contact with Iris.

The smile dropped from Iris' face.

She and Black Canary had met before, of course. The heroes that Barry trusted enough with his identity came by the house to visit often enough. That plus the fact that she was the advanced combat instructor for Wally's secret Team left the two women on good terms.

But there were only a handful of reasons that Black Canary would be here, and none of them were good.

"I'm looking for Iris Allen," Black Canary repeated urgently, still acting like she couldn't tell who she was.

Iris stood from her chair on shaky legs and tried to move forward. She stumbled slightly, but it gave Black Canary the excuse to drop the act and approach her swiftly. She grabbed Iris' arms to steady her and looked right into her eyes, "Are you Mrs. Allen?"

"Yes," Iris breathed nervously.

"Ma'am, there has been an emergency," Black Canary squared her shoulders beneath her signature blue jacket. "I need you to come with me, please."

Iris sent her boss a desperate look and took the coat that Cat scrambled to retrieve from her chair. She numbly jammed her arms through the sleeves and stared wide-eyed back at the heroine, "What happened?"

"Not here. We need to hurry," Black Canary rushed her through the halls of the GBS news station, into the stairwell, and down eight flights. She took Iris out a side exit and into an alley where a sleek blue motorcycle was concealed behind a delivery van. The whole run through the building had reduced Iris' nerves to a frenzied mess.

"Dinah!" she gasped, though still breathing rather easily. Iris was the wife of a speedster, after all. Barry had taught her how to marathon sprint. " _Please_! What happened?!"

Black Canary, also barely winded, ran to the bike and grabbed one of the two helmets lying on the seat. She flipped a switch on the inside and tossed it to Iris before taking the second helmet for herself and straddling the motorcycle. Iris jammed the helmet on and was yanked onto the bike behind Dinah just seconds before they went roaring out of the alley and onto the main road.

Iris, never one to be fazed by sudden acceleration and breakneck speeds, locked her arms around Black Canary's waist in a practiced death grip as the blonde crime fighter weaved through the impossibly small gaps in traffic.

Without warning, hidden speakers in Iris' helmet fizzled with static before Dinah's voice came through over the sound of rushing wind and the honking of irritable drivers stuck in evening rush hour.

_"Can you hear me alright, Iris?"_

"Yes!" she shouted into what looked like a microphone built into the helmet's mouth cover. "Dinah, what happened?! Where are we going?"

_"I'm taking you to the Watchtower."_

Iris felt her chest go ice cold in fear, "Dinah…"

She didn't get a reply for a few heartbeats.

_"Iris, I'm so sorry. Wally never showed up at Mt. Justice today. Batman tracked his communicator to his house in Central and used the remote camera there to find him. Wally and his mother were both attacked at some point yesterday, and they're hurt very badly. Before I left to pick you up, Batman called Jay, Max, and Johnny to the house. We need to be at the Watchtower waiting for them when they get there."_

Iris stared at the back of Dinah's helmet in horror. _Wally?_ Her heart started pounding furiously at the thought of her beloved nephew in danger. "What happened to him? Is he going to be okay?! Who hurt him?"

_"As soon as we saw that Wally was hurt, Batman ordered me to come find you and bring you to the Watchtower. I only saw him for a few seconds, but he was unconscious, and there was blood everywhere. I don't know any more than what I just told you, I'm sorry."_

"Does Barry know? Is he back yet?"

_"No. Mister Terrific told me that he's still outside the range of our communications, but he's still trying. We'll know when we get there."_

Iris wanted to go to her brother's house and see what had happened for herself, but she wanted to be with her family more. If Wally and Mary were on their way to the Watchtower, then that's where Iris would be waiting for them. "What about my brother? Do you know anything about Rudy?"

_"I don't. I only saw Wally and his mother, but Batman is investigating the rest of the house as we speak, and he will no doubt be coming to the Watchtower once he is finished."_

Iris nodded nervously and remained quiet to let Black Canary focus. They reached the closest Central City zeta tube within minutes and abandoned the bike before being teleported into the League's orbiting space station.

_"Recognize: Black Canary – 13, Authorized Guest"_

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[Central City

March 15, 19:00 CDT]

It was 7:00pm before the doorbell to the Allen residence rang. Dick and Wally had just finished assembling the brand new desk set that Barry and Iris bought for him. They'd also gotten him new everything for his bedroom despite Wally's protests. Apparently, the therapist that Wally had agreed to talk to suggested that a new environment with new things would help him more easily accept that the abuse was over and that he could start his life over fresh. Dick knew that Wally hadn't wanted them to buy him anything and he felt guilty enough 'imposing' on them. Wally didn't seem to understand that his aunt and uncle _wanted_ him to live with them.

When Dick arrived at Central earlier, Wally's aunt had let him in with a smile and told him that Wally was upstairs assembling the new furniture pieces. He was also told that Wally had instructions from his therapist that he was to seek no help during the task. Building the items all by himself was meant to symbolize the positive experience of creating something, and it would give him something to look at with pride once he was finished.

Dick had found Wally sitting on the floor in the middle of his new room surrounded by a hundred random desk bits. The redhead was glaring madly at a thirty page instruction manual while scratching at his head with a screwdriver, looking extremely aggravated. He'd looked up when he sensed Dick staring at him and exclaimed 'The directions are in Swedish!' while frantically waving the manual about.

So, Dick had caved and helped him. Between the two of them and Dick's handy holo-comp translator, it had only taken a few hours. By the end, they'd wound up with a pretty decently made desk and some rather aggressive bets over who could learn the most languages by the time they were thirty.

At the sound of the doorbell, Wally and Dick raced down the stairs into the kitchen – at normal speed. Wally still had a little less than two days before he could use his powers, and he was absolutely itching to run. He and Barry had plans for a cross country sprint to Coast City tomorrow night to celebrate his recovery. Dick suspected that it was also a clever way to rid Wally of all this excess, pent up energy.

Iris was curled up on the couch watching the news when they passed the living room, and Barry was stretched out next to her, absently looking over a huge stack of file folders. Wally yanked open the kitchen door and grinned hugely to see Roy standing there with his motorcycle helmet tucked under one arm and three giant pots rigged together with rope and duct tape in the other.

"Roy!" Wally exclaimed happily at the same time that Dick said, "What is _that_?"

"Oliver's chili," Roy sighed, looking like he had mixed feelings about it. Dick blanched.

"That is _not_ staying in my house," Barry spoke up ominously, suddenly standing behind them.

Wally dashed off to the cabinets to retrieve a bowl, "Wait! I wanna try it first before you jettison it off into space!"

"I wasn't going to bring it at first," Roy set all three pots down on the kitchen table with a heavy clunk and rolled his shoulder. "But Ollie called me over, and we had this talk and sort of made up. I didn't want to ruin it. It was weird. I figured, worst case, you could use this on some of your villains."

Barry stared at the chili pots with a thoughtful expression like he was imagining the possibilities.

"Still trying it first," Wally declared, lifting the lid off one of the pots and filling a bowl to the top. Before anyone could stop him, he popped a heaping spoonful into his mouth. Roy stretched both arms out towards him in horror, like someone about to witness a car accident but too far away to do anything about it. Dick gasped soundlessly. Although he had never tried the fabled chili himself, Dick had heard enough stories. Barry zipped to the fridge and snatched an entire jug of milk and a whole loaf of bread to help his nephew through the impending fallout.

All three watched Wally chew carefully with an odd expression on his face. He swallowed, frowning curiously at the bowl.

"That…is fan _tastic_ ," Wally smiled at them, stuffing another spoonful into his mouth. Barry stared at him like he was missing his face.

"Not happening…" Roy frowned in disbelief.

"You've gotta try this," Wally handed Dick the bowl. "This beats Blue Valley's chili contest, hands down."

Dick looked down at the chili in his hands uncertainly. All the terrible things that he'd ever heard about the chili circled about in his head like warning sirens. But, Bruce liked it, didn't he? If Bruce could handle it, then _he_ could handle it. Pfft. If _Wally_ could handle it, Dick would be fine. Plus, there was no chance in hell that he was going to let the redhead issue a challenge like that without thoroughly demolishing it. He swiftly scooped up a huge bite of chili and ate it with a confident smirk.

Twenty minutes later, the three boys were up in Wally's new room with an action movie playing in the background. Wally was happily munching away on his ninth bowl of chili, Roy was inspecting and pointing out the various flaws in the newly assembled furniture, and Dick was lying on the floor, flat on his back, with a bag of frozen peas on his face. The gallon of milk and half a loaf of bread were positioned strategically by each of his hands.

"Man, this really clears out the sinuses," Wally marveled, sniffling lightly. Dick could hear the spoon clinking away at the bowl. "You think Ollie would give me the recipe?"

"If we're lucky, he'll take it to the grave," Roy remarked dryly.

Dick just laid there, his tongue, eyes, and throat still scorching. This would be the _last_ time that he ever ate anything Wally gave him ever again. He could still hear the Flash and his wife laughing in his head. Dick could only guess at how long it would take for Batman to hear about this. Alfred was going to tease him for weeks.

"So, I hear that the Team's coming off of suspension pretty soon," Roy spoke again, sounding like he was leading into something.

"Yeah," Wally's voice sounded excited. "And two more weeks after that, _I'm_ back on it. I feel kind of bad for Dick and the others though. They'll have to go three whole weeks without their biggest gun."

Neither Dick nor Roy rose to knock him down from his ego-driven delusions.

"Right," Roy agreed mockingly. Dick heard him clear his throat before speaking again. "Well…I was thinking about joining the Team for awhile."

Dick sat bolt upright, the frozen peas tumbling forward onto his lap, "What?!"

Wally started choking on the chili, staring at Roy in shock, "Are you serious?!"

" _Only_ for a while," Roy clarified with a frown. He'd moved to sit cross-legged on the floor facing them.

"Why do you want to join up with us?" Dick asked suspiciously. He cocked an eyebrow at Roy and scrutinized him closely. "You're Justice League now."

"Weren't we just the Junior League?" Wally pointed his spoon at Roy distrustfully. "Having play dates in our little clubhouse, remember?"

Roy rolled his eyes at them, giving a long suffering sigh, "I'd like to get more experience working in teams. I don't get many group missions from the League, and I don't want to screw it up because I've only ever worked partners or solo."

The reasoning was weak. Dick examined his big brother closely, noting his uncomfortable pose, averting of the eyes, and…there it was. Roy's tell. The archer was tapping his palm with his middle and ring finger, just like he would be tapping his bow if he had it in hand. The motion was _always_ a tell that Roy was being evasive.

He wasn't telling them the whole reason.

"You've worked with the Team before," Wally pointed out. "There was that time we were protecting Dr. Roquette in Gotham and the New Orleans thing with Sportsmaster. Or, Dick's super secret circus mission that I _wasn't allowed to go on_."

Dick threw his head back with a sigh, "There is no _way_ you were ever going to be coordinated enough to be in the circus."

"I don't need to be coordinated," Wally insisted. He suddenly put on a cheesy grin and arched his back to thrust out his chest, "I could've been: The World's Most Ridiculously Handsome Teenager!"

Dick made a big show of outwardly scoffing at the idea while his heart quickened its pace inside his chest. 'Yes he could have', he thought while admiring Wally's pretty eyes wistfully. Ugh – stop it. Not the time. He mentally shook himself.

"Wow," Roy deadpanned. "Had you paid attention, you would've heard me say that I needed _more_ experience, not that I've never had any."

Then, just for a second, Roy's eyes flickered over to Wally and then away again. Wally didn't see it; he set his empty bowl off to the side and stretched out on the floor. Dick, however, _did_ see, and then Roy's declaration made sense.

He wasn't joining part time to gain teamwork skills. Roy was doing it so that he could watch out for Wally, because coming so close to losing his little brother had scared him. Dick could understand. He honestly had no idea how he was supposed to work alongside Wally on Team missions without constantly worrying about whether or not the redhead was hurt. He didn't know if he would be able to properly focus on mission objectives if Wally wasn't right there next to him.

"Well, I'm fine with it," Dick said suddenly, offering no more questions or accusations. After all, he was completely on board with an extra set of eyes watching out for Wally. However, Roy's addition would probably cause some bad feelings with Artemis. Maybe if he had Wally to focus on, Roy would forget about his ridiculous mole hunt for a while.

Wally looked over at him out of the corner of his eye but turned his gaze back at Roy, "Of course we're fine with it; we've been after you to join since day one. So, when _are_ you going to join?"

Roy took a sip from his water bottle, trying to appear casual about it, "I've got some cases in Star that I'm going to be busy with for a while, but it'll be soon after that."

Yeah, Dick thought laughingly. It would probably be around the time that Wally was back. Coincidentally, of course.

They all heard Wally's aunt calling him downstairs then. The speedster hopped to his feet and opened the door to leave, an odd shudder visibly wracking his spine. He hung back for a second, sticking his head back in the doorframe, "I'll be right back. Don't let Roy change his mind. We're making him sign a contract."

Once he was out of sight again, Roy turned to look straight at Dick, "What was that?"

He'd obviously seen Wally's slip up, too. Dick sighed and jerked his thumb towards the rest of the house, "Stairs. They still freak him out a little."

It couldn't be easy for Wally to block out the memory of bleeding to death on the stairs in his old house.

"Alright," Dick snapped his eyes over to Roy. "What's the real reason you want to join the team?"

"Out of the two of us, you've been with him the most often," Roy responded immediately. Well, at least he wasn't trying to lie to Dick about having ulterior motives. "You can't tell me it doesn't worry you that he's not acting traumatized _at all_. That's not normal."

Dick had noticed, and it _was_ worrying him. Wally was acting exactly the same as he did before this whole mess. Outwardly, he seemed fine, but Wally was such a superb actor that that fact meant very little.

"I'm joining the team because Wally is going to beat the psyche evaluation that he needs to pass in order to be cleared for combat." Roy spoke clearly and calmly. Dick already knew this. Wally was going to be able to manipulate his examiner without any trouble. "And we both know that he's a time bomb. If he ends up with PTSD and has a breakdown in the middle of a mission, I want to be there."

Dick nodded silently. It was pretty much what he'd figured. He just wanted Roy to know that they could be on the same side in the coming weeks.

Wally came back upstairs after a minute, looking vaguely anxious and lost in thought.

"Everything okay?" Dick asked, his eyebrows turning downwards.

"What? Yeah…" Wally folded himself up on the ground again. "She just needed to know something for my school."

He fell silent for a long minute then, staring down at his hands, "Can I get your advice on something?"

Dick nodded his agreement, and Roy's expression turned very serious.

"My dad wants to see me," Wally said in a strange tone. Dick felt a hard lump form in his stomach. "Uncle Barry told me yesterday. He said that I don't ever have to see my dad again if I don't want to, but they're moving him from the normal holding cells to isolation sometime tomorrow. So, I need to decide what to do."

"What?!" Roy growled furiously. He slammed one fist into the floor and leaned forward to jab one finger at Wally sternly. "You tell him to go to hell! He lost the right to ever see you again."

Wally nodded along with Roy's words silently like he agreed with him, but Dick knew that there was something very wrong if Wally was having trouble saying anything but 'no' to the request.

"If you _did_ go to see him," Dick began, trying to ignore the incredulous and slightly hostile look that he got from Roy almost immediately in response. "What would you say to him? What would you want to ask?"

Wally really thought about that for a moment. He frowned in concentration but shook his head helplessly after a time, "I don't really have anything that I wanna say to him."

"Then why is this an issue?" Roy asked irately. Dick resisted the urge to throw something at him. He knew that the older boy wasn't angry about Wally's confusion over what to do. Roy was livid that Wally's father would have the audacity to ask such a thing. "Let the League lock him up in their basement, and let's forget about him."

"I don't _want_ to see him," Wally tried to defend his position. He opened his mouth several times to speak but seemed to be having difficulty putting what he had to say into words. "But I feel like I should. I mean, what if talking to him could give me some closure? See, that's it right there! I don't want to look back in a few years and have 'what ifs'. What if I went to see him? What if…he had something important to tell me? What if I ended up having something that I really needed to say to _him_ , but didn't realize until I was standing right in front of him? I just don't want to wind up with any regrets."

Dick reached out to place a hand on Wally's knee, trying to calm him down. The redhead was beginning to blend his words together into superspeed. He looked at Wally quietly until he got his attention, "What if he does more damage to you?"

"See? This is why I can't decide," Wally pressed both hands to his face and rocked back until he was lying on the floor. Dick heard him groaning in frustration and felt his own heart tug at its bindings helplessly. He wanted to make this easier for his best friend, but didn't know how.

"Wally, I don't think this is something we can help you with," Roy sighed, finally letting go of his anger enough to speak rationally. "I'm sorry. You're asking what to do because you're concerned about regrets, but the only thing that Dick and I are thinking about is your well-being. I'm not going to be able to tell you that you should go ahead and stroll right into the same room as that piece of garbage."

Dick watched Wally miserably. Roy was right. They couldn't help him, but it didn't stop Dick from wishing that he had something better to tell him.

Wally didn't say anything to that. He dropped his hands from his face and just stared blankly up at the ceiling.

It took precisely two seconds for Dick to fly into full fledged panic mode. His vision blurred fractionally, and he started imagining splotches of blood blooming across Wally's chest. His memory brought forward images of Wally lying motionless on a staircase, and Dick had to shut his eyes and focus on controlling his wildly hammering heartbeat to make them go away.

He leaned forward and shook Wally a little harder than he'd meant to. The redhead looked at him in mild surprise but sat up anyways. Dick calmed down immensely at the sight of Wally moving again, "Hey, why don't we change the subject? This isn't doing us any good."

Wally smiled at him gratefully and nodded, "Thanks, guys. I'll figure it out tomorrow."

"C'mon," Roy got to his feet and moved over to the TV, which had been ignored for the most part. He reset the movie that was playing and turned off the lights in the room, settling down in the swivel chair that Dick and Wally had puzzled together. "Let's watch this stupid thing already. I wasn't paying attention at all."

"Conner said that it was pretty good," Wally spoke up optimistically, referring to the movie marathon that the benched members of the Team had focused on in lieu of missions.

"Conner _does_ think that empty station static is a good show," Dick laughed, able to breathe normally again. Thankfully, it looked like no one had noticed his distress a few seconds earlier.

"He hasn't done that in a while," Wally protested in defense of their half-Kryptonian friend. "Took me forever to get him to stop."

They gathered all the blankets from the hallway closet and Wally's room and spread them out on the floor like they used to when they were younger. The three of them sprawled out and settled in to watch the movie.

It was pretty good, Dick had to admit. But Wally had conked out towards the end, and Dick found his best friend to be _much_ more enjoyable to watch. He'd thrown a blanket over his legs and had his back to the foot of Wally's bed, watching the redhead stretched out next to him. He was transfixed by the steady rise and fall of his chest. The TV's glow made his skin look almost luminous and his hair appear to be a much darker shade of red.

Wally looked peaceful, but Dick had his eyes open for nightmares just in case. He had his head propped up on one fist and was smiling down at the speedster contently. A pleasant, warm feeling was spreading out from his chest and heading all the way down to his toes.

It lasted about five seconds. Dick happened to glance up at the movie for a second to see what was going on when he saw Roy staring straight at him. The older boy's expression was unreadable, but he had clearly seen Dick watching Wally sleep. Dick stared back with wide, terrified eyes. Roy's blue eyes flickered to Wally for a second, then back to Dick for a moment, and then back to Wally. His mouth stretched into a smirk after that, and he looked like someone triumphantly placing the very last piece in a difficult jigsaw puzzle. Roy looked at Dick knowingly for a long moment but broke eye contact without a word and returned to watching the movie.

Dick looked back down at Wally dejectedly. What the hell did he think he was doing? He rolled over so that he couldn't see his best friend anymore and shut his eyes tightly, doing his best to ignore Roy and the movie. He needed to stop thinking about Wally like that. There was too much going on right now, and what Wally needed the most was for everything to go back to being as normal as possible. He didn't need Dick messing up their friendship because he couldn't control his crazy hormones for longer than five minutes at a time. He still stubbornly fell asleep thinking about Wally though.

He dreamed about Wally too until something woke him up about six hours later.

Dick opened his eyes groggily and was momentarily caught off guard at the sight of his two friends both sitting upright from their positions on the floor. Roy and Wally had their heads turned and were staring at the door where the light from the hallway was spilling in through the cracks. Dick sat up as well and rubbed at the corners of his eyes, about to ask what was going on when he heard footsteps downstairs and muffled voices speaking rather loudly.

The TV was turned off now, so the room was almost pitch black. Even so, Dick could still make out the confused expressions on his friends' faces. What the heck was going on? They all listened silently, trying to pick out snippets of conversation.

Barry was talking, that much Dick could make out, but he wasn't talking to his wife. The Flash's voice was raised like he was angry, and it sounded like he was yelling at someone, though Dick couldn't hear a second person speaking.

Footsteps started coming up the stairs rapidly, and Dick's training kicked in immediately. His muscles tensed for a fight, and he felt around under Wally's bed for the utility belt that he'd stashed there just in case.

The doorknob turned then, and Barry opened the door, flooding the room with blinding light. Dick blinked quickly to adjust and was startled to see Wally's uncle standing there with a cell phone pressed to his ear and an absolutely livid expression on his face.

Wally was on his feet in a second, looking worried. Dick could understand. The last time he'd seen Wally's uncle this angry was…

"Wally," Barry said grimly, his jaw clenched so tightly that Dick could hear his teeth grinding together.

"Your father's missing."


	4. Chapter 4

[The Watchtower

February 10, 23:15]

The screams finally stopped, and Wally's limbs and torso slowed their thrashing soon after. He was lying very still on the table with his eyes closed and chest rising and falling at an increasingly steady rate. Barry hesitantly released Wally's arms that he'd been holding down and saw Jay remove his weight from the kid's legs. Dr. Mid-Nite held up his empty syringe and stepped back away from Max, who had been keeping Wally from slipping off the table during the minor seizure.

"There," Mid-Nite said, panting heavily and wiping at his goggles. "He's asleep now."

It felt so unbelievably _wrong_ to help put his nephew to sleep right after he'd worked so hard to revive him for good, but Barry couldn't stand to watch him suffer like that. He let his legs give out and slowly sank to the floor, sagging against the surgical table in exhaustion. Barry felt the relief wash over him, and when he looked down, he found that his hands were shaking. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes tiredly, hearing Jay zip over and kneel down in front of him.

"You did it, son," Jay said with a laugh. Barry felt a heavy hand grip his shoulder and managed to nod gratefully. He still couldn't muster the energy to open his eyes. The last time he'd felt this drained was after his most recent fight with Professor Zoom. "You saved him."

"When can we wake him up again?" Max asked nervously from somewhere above Barry's head. He didn't seem to like seeing Wally unconscious either.

"I want him to sleep as long as possible," Dr. Mid-Nite said firmly. "His body's been put through an incredible strain, and it needs to shut down for a while and recover."

"Are there going to be any problems waking him up again?" Jay asked.

"There shouldn't be," Dr. Mid-Nite assured them. "The important thing is that we continue to feed nutrients into his body intravenously and watch him for another heart failure. Although, that last part seems unlikely. His pulse is growing much stronger, though it keeps hiccupping every now and then. We'll have to wait for him to wake up to ascertain his mental state."

Barry's eyes snapped open at that. He shot to his feet wearily and looked behind him to see Mid-Nite feeding a second IV into Wally's other arm, "What do you mean?"

"I tried to tell you before; he was dead for _hours._ There was zero blood flow to the brain. It's called global cerebral ischemia. In normal cases, _minutes_ of hypoxia can cause severe brain damage," Mid-Nite explained carefully. "And it's usually permanent."

Barry scrubbed at his face in misery. All that pain Wally had to go through and Barry still hadn't been able to save him. Jay shook his head slowly and stared down at Wally wretchedly like he couldn't believe this was happening.

"Hold on," Dr. Mid-Nite held out his hands towards them, signaling for them to wait a moment. "I said in normal circumstances. This is hardly normal. Your nephew should be dead. But, look."

He lifted one of Wally's hands and spread the fingers. They were pale, but otherwise seemed normal to Barry. He didn't understand what Mid-Nite was getting at. "One of the visible signs of Hypoxia is Cyanosis. His lips and fingertips should be blue. They're not. That may mean that he's miraculously been able to heal the damage done or wasn't affected at all. There's no way to be sure until he wakes up. Then, I can ask him a few questions, check his responses, and get a CT scan to give you an exact answer."

So, there was a little hope. Barry had worked with less before. He could handle waiting for however long it took to see if Wally was going to be able to walk away from this.

"Right now, we need to move him into a room so that I can get him more permanently set up," Dr. Mid-Nite moved to a nearby hazardous waste bin and deposited the used syringe.

"I believe that _I_ may be able to assist you with that."

Barry turned at the sound of the familiar voice and caught J'onn right as he was phasing up through the floor. The Martian Manhunter solidified and looked at them all quietly and impassively.

"Where did you go?" Max asked suddenly, and Barry could vaguely remember J'onn leaving partway through his attempts to resuscitate Wally.

"I telepathically read the Flash's plan and determined that I had no part in it. I am sorry for the intrusion; you were, I believe, concentrating so hard that you were projecting your thoughts," J'onn addressed Barry directly in his calm, almost hypnotic tones. Barry waved off the apology without so much as a thought. He wasn't Batman, and he'd never had a problem with his teammate communicating with him telepathically before. "I decided that my role in here was ended and that I would prove to be more useful helping to conduct the interrogation below."

Barry narrowed his eyes at J'onn in confusion then. Interrogation? Of who?

Max's disapproval faded abruptly, and he looked curious and eager, "Did you find out-?"

"Let's move Wally first," Jay said loudly, speaking over Max very quickly.

Dr. Mid-Nite seemed to agree with him. He pointed out to J'onn the various machines and IV poles that needed to be carefully moved with Wally, and the Martian nodded his understanding. J'onn rose a few inches into the air and extended one hand towards the surgical table. Wally and the surrounding medical apparatus were levitated very slowly. J'onn steered them out the door and followed Dr. Mid-Nite to another room a little ways down the ward that had an actual bed in it.

They cleaned Wally up a bit, changed him out of his bloody, torn up clothes and into a pair of fresh scrubs, and then J'onn lowered him onto the bed. They all stayed back a ways to let Dr. Mid-Nite reposition the machines however he liked. J'onn's impassive red eyes seemed to watch all of them at once very patiently.

Jay zipped over to stand by Barry's side but addressed J'onn when he spoke, "Alright, we're ready. Who attacked Wally?"

Barry looked over at his friend sharply. Of course he'd known, logically, that _someone_ had hurt Wally. But, he'd been so distraught at the sight of his nephew dead and then so focused later on saving him that it hadn't occurred to him to ask if any of them knew who had done it. It had also been the only thing keeping together the dam that was holding back all of Barry's anger.

"It _was_ the boy's father," J'onn spoke very solemnly. "Wonder Woman extracted the confession with her lasso, and I verified it myself when I arrived to assist."

Barry felt his face screw up in confusion. He looked over at Jay and Max and was surprised to see them both nodding grimly as if they'd already known, and this was just confirmation of a terrible fact.

"What?" he asked uncomprehendingly, looking around at everyone for an explanation.

"Barry," Jay moved in front of him and gripped his shoulder tightly. "I was there first. Rudy was holding the gun and yelling at Wally's body. He attacked me."

Barry stared at him in disbelief.

"We also performed sweeps for traces of magical interference and mind control but found none," J'onn continued calmly. "I looked through Mr. West's memories of the event. He returned home from work, found his wife in the kitchen, and covered her mouth while he stabbed her. Then he called for his son and murdered him in the hallway."

This wasn't making any sense. Barry had just seen Rudy two weeks ago and everything had been fine then. He'd had lunch with him and Iris, for Christ's sake! Barry ran a hand through his hair and glanced over at Wally lying comatose not two feet away, "So, Rudy just came home and killed his family out of the blue for no reason?! I don't understa-"

"No," J'onn interrupted him, his deep voice sounding troubled. "I determined that this event was the result of the natural escalation of Mr. West's past violence towards his son."

Barry felt his blood run cold. His vision narrowed and honed in on J'onn's expressionless face, and every whirling thought in his head came to a screeching halt. He felt the dam restraining his anger fracture. " _What…_?"

"When I was sifting through his mind, I uncovered several years' worth of memories of Mr. West both physically and emotionally abusing his son. There were also extremely detailed thoughts concerning how to keep the evidence of the abuse from being discovered," J'onn relayed quietly. "Some memories were from as far back as eleven years."

The dam shattered. Barry felt raw fury burn unchecked in his chest. The air around him began to crackle and tremble with energy. Jay released his shoulder with a jolt when a small charge of electricity lanced out from Barry's body at him.

Wally's _father_ had hurt him – had _been_ hurting him… Barry felt his very molecules vibrate with rage. He turned to look at Wally, imagining the big-eyed little boy that Iris had excitedly introduced him to six years ago, and something inside him just snapped.

The rage boiled over, and before anyone could stop him, Barry was speeding through the door. He made it to the waiting room in less than a second, violently shoving the doors open and rapidly taking in every single person in the hallway. He located who he wanted and flickered to a stop right in front of Bruce. He glared straight into the white lenses of Bruce's cowl.

" _Where the FUCK is he?!"_ Barry snarled furiously.

Bruce seemed largely unruffled, and he wasted no time in stepping aside and nodding to the length of hallway behind him, "Watchtower holding cell number eight. Diana is standing guard waiting for you."

Without offering any kind of response, Barry streaked through the Watchtower's network of hallways and down to the 'basement' level where they kept some of the League's enemies that were too dangerous to be detained on Earth. In the League's history, the cells had only been put into use for a villain about nine times, and those stints had usually been very brief. No one really ever _wanted_ a villain inside their HQ, after all.

Barry reached the detention level in seconds, barely even recognizing the heroes he passed on the way. He didn't waste time opening doors; he just vibrated through them at lightning speed.

Barry had been in the detention area before. Hell, he'd been in a _holding cell_ before – mind control was a frustrating thing. There were fifteen cells, all funded by WayneTech and constructed out of the strongest materials and magical wards. Each cell was roughly the size of a classroom and divided in half by maximum strength glass windows able to be darkened into two way mirrors – the kind used on the outer bits of the Watchtower to withstand the vacuum of space. One side of the glass was designed to hold any prisoner, and the other side was for visitors usually there for interrogations or observation. There were several chairs stacked against one of the walls and fluorescent lights lining the ceiling. On the wall beside the door, a panic button capable of putting the whole Watchtower on lockdown was set into the steel.

Barry vibrated through the side wall without a word. He scanned the room in superspeed, taking in the Amazon stationed at the door on full alert. Across from her, Rudy was shackled to a single chair behind the glass partition. He had his head down and back hunched over, obscuring his face.

When Barry laid eyes on him, his blood boiled, and he was darting at the glass before he even knew what he was doing.

He'd barely sunk half his arm through the partition when he heard Diana yell 'Flash!' in shock, and he was thrown back from the glass. Barry collided into the stack of chairs, knocking them to the floor. He was back on his feet instantly and setting Rudy in his sights again. Wonder Woman placed herself between Barry and the glass, readied for a fight, "Flash, _stop!_ You-"

Barry didn't let her finish the sentence. He sidestepped her and lunged at the glass, only to have Diana spin around and deliver a kick to his midsection. Barry grabbed her leg with both hands and tossed her harmlessly into the adjacent wall, still in control of himself enough to realize that he didn't really want to hurt her.

It didn't matter. Barry was inches from the glass, watching Rudy finally become conscious of the fight taking place and slowly look up, when he was violently jerked into the air and swung shoulder first into the door. He looked down and saw Wonder Woman's golden lasso looped tightly around his chest. Diana was up again, her face twisted into a determined grimace, and standing in front of the cell once more. Rudy was now sitting upright in the chair, watching the fight with a mixture of confusion and alarm. His left eye was blackened and swollen shut, and it looked like he was favoring his right side as if the ribs were tender.

Barry sighed inwardly in frustration. He'd wanted to get into Rudy's cell before Diana was even aware of him and where she couldn't get to him. It would've taken at least a minute for her to raise the divider enough to fit through, and that would have been plenty of time for Barry to tear Rudy limb from limb.

As it was, Diana was in full battle mode, and Barry had never seen her pulled away from a fight without finishing it.

He vibrated his molecules at the right frequency, and the lasso slipped through him and onto the floor. In the same heartbeat, Barry was up on his feet and pointing both arms straight out at Diana. He rotated his arms in circles at blinding speeds, creating two funnels of hurricane force air. Diana was hurled backwards at the glass, hitting it hard. Barry saw her head crack against the partition and watched her crumple to the floor. Behind the glass, Rudy's surprise faded away, and he was fixing his brother in law with the most hateful glare he'd seen in a long time.

Right then, seeing Rudy's expression, there wasn't a single doubt in Barry's mind that Rudy had tried to kill his own son. He charged at the glass right as the door to the holding cell slid open.

Two arms like bands of steel wrapped around Barry in a vice, and he was wrenched to a halt once again. His arms were pinned to his sides uselessly. Barry struggled against the hold furiously and looked down. Somehow, Diana had recovered enough to reach out and grab his leg in a last ditch effort to stop him.

It had worked. She'd slowed him down long enough for Superman to catch up and restrain him. Barry managed to snag one more glance at Rudy looking smug in his cell before Clark slammed him into the ground, putting his knee and all of his weight into Barry's back. He gasped in pain, half his face being pushed into the floor by Superman's hand. From his awkward position, he could see Diana getting back onto her feet and shaking off the head injury like it was nothing. It probably wasn't to her, anyway.

"Flash!" Clark spoke imploringly, refraining from using Barry's real name. He didn't know why; his mask was down and Rudy knew who he was. "You need to calm down!"

Barry's rage boiled over once more, and he thrashed as much as he was able, "Get the hell off me!"

"Not until you listen to me and calm down. You're not going anywhere, so you might as well do what I say," Clark pressed down on him harder for emphasis. Barry grit his teeth against the pain, feeling his ribs and joints straining from the pressure, and refused to give up.

"Why are you protecting him?!" Barry snarled furiously, managing to free one arm. He braced the palm flat on the floor and pretended like he couldn't move his arm. The second Clark let up on his hold even a fraction, Barry was prepared to excite the molecules in the tiles and melt the floor beneath them to escape. "Didn't you see what he did to Wally?!"

Diana had taken up a guard position in front of the partition again, and this time her sword was in her hand and ready, "We aren't protecting _him_. We're protecting _you_."

That made Barry pause in concocting his escape plans. He craned his neck painfully to try to look her and Clark in the eye. His anger simmered quietly for the moment as Barry tried to figure out what Diana meant. He didn't understand. What were they protecting him from?

"You've been a good friend to me for a long time," Clark readjusted his grip on Barry's arms to alleviate some of the pressure on his shoulders. He looked apologetic at having to cause him any sort of pain at all. "I'm not about to let you become a killer."

Barry froze in his struggles. His only thoughts had been of tearing Rudy apart with his bare hands; he hadn't considered what that would turn him into. He felt momentarily grateful to Clark for stopping him until his gaze traveled along the glass wall again and settled on his brother in law. Rudy was still glaring at him balefully, only now his lips were slightly turned up in a satisfied smirk.

His rage flared up again, and he could feel the electric current humming through his body. Lightning began to arc from his limbs and dance along the floor wildly, "He doesn't deserve to live!"

"No," Superman agreed in a very forced calm voice. "But that isn't for us to decide."

"It isn't for _you_ to decide at all!" he growled. "This is a speedster matter. It's _my_ family, my business."

Barry rarely got territorial. He'd been one of the first of the original seven to share their identities. He certainly wasn't like Bruce, who tried to keep the others out of Gotham as much as possible. Barry had always made sure that the others felt welcome in his city, and he'd never been ashamed about asking for help with one of his villains. But, this was where he drew the line. They were trying to keep him from getting revenge for his nephew.

"You're not thinking clearly," Clark ignored the minor shocks being delivered to his system. "Think about what killing him will do to you. And, don't try to tell me that's not what you were planning on doing. I saw you back in the med bay."

Diana crouched down in front of Barry and placed a gentle hand on his back, her expression open and sympathetic, "Think about Wally. What will he do when he wakes up and has to deal with the knowledge that his uncle killed his father?"

" _If_ he wakes up," Barry tried to shoot another glare at Rudy, but Diana was blocking his view.

She grabbed his jaw and forced him to look her in the eye, "You're his hero. He looks up to you above all others. It is your duty to _not_ let him down like this. You have to be stronger than your hate."

"I remember meeting a little boy a few years back who thought his uncle was the coolest person on the planet," above him, Clark seemed to catch on to Diana's line of reasoning and went with it. "Looking back now at what he had to deal with, it seems like you're the closest thing that he has to a _real_ father."

Barry stopped fighting him then. Diana waited a few moments, studying his face closely, before releasing his jaw and standing up to her full height once more, "Computer, tint the glass. Prisoner's side."

The glass partition darkened marginally so that Barry could see through to the other side, but Rudy was left looking at his own reflection in a wall-sized mirror. The older man leaned forward in his chair, squinting, and trying to see through the block.

Barry let his body go limp in complete exhaustion, grateful for the privacy. He rested his head on the floor and closed his eyes as all of the events of the day caught up to him. He'd been able to outrun them earlier in his rage, but now everything was closing in on him. This was too much to handle all at once.

"You have to do what's best for him, and that is getting him justice _without_ killing his father. I know that the last thing you want to do is cause him more trauma." Clark was being cautious and didn't let up on his hold despite Barry's apparent surrender. "So, let's do this the right way. Batman's already been to the crime scene and gathered enough evidence to put Wally's father away forever."

Barry tried to imagine having to tell Iris and Wally that he'd murdered Rudy, and he felt deep shame overtake him. Clark was right; Barry would just be making things a lot worse for his family. He finally relented, feeling too bone tired to fight anymore, "Alright…"

The door to the holding cell slid open with a buzz, and Barry heard Hal's furious voice from somewhere behind him, "What the hell's going on? Get off him!"

Diana moved to intercept him, "We're stopping him from doing something he'll regret."

"What he'll regret is not breaking every bone in that piece of trash's miserable body!"

"Hal, _get out_ ," Barry heard Diana say through gritted teeth. He shut his eyes again and sighed, feeling a massive migraine coming on.

"No!" Hal argued stubbornly. "You can't just pin him down like that with West sitting five feet away!"

Clark ignored him and addressed Barry quietly, "Are you okay if I let you up? I need to know that you're back in control of yourself."

"I'm fine," Barry replied almost in a whisper. It felt like a lie, but Clark chose to believe him anyways. He helped Barry up and released him with only a second of hesitation.

Diana was still tearing into Hal over by the door, "We only _just_ talked him down. If you're just going to rile him up again, you can wait outside."

Hal cocked an eyebrow at her and opened his mouth to say something stupid when Barry intervened. He craned his neck to look past Superman, deliberately trying hard not to look at Rudy. He was afraid that he would lose his mind again if he saw his brother in law.

"How's Iris?" Barry asked with a shaky voice. He needed something else to focus on if he was going to do this.

Hal shut his mouth abruptly, cutting off whatever he had been about to say, and looked over at Barry in surprise, "She's uh…about as well as you are. She sent me down here because she was worried about you."

"Is there any change in Wally?" Barry asked desperately. Hal shook his head slowly.

"I was only there for ten minutes. He was still asleep when I left."

Barry felt his stomach twist into knots with worry. He felt Clark's heavy hand on his shoulder and turned around to look at him questioningly.

"Do you think you can handle talking to him?" Clark's piercing blue eyes bore into his own insistently. "That's what you came down here for, isn't it? To get answers?"

No. Barry had come down here to kill him. But, he did have questions for Rudy.

"Yes," Barry tried to say as truthfully as possible. He knew what Clark was up to; he was trying to give Barry an out for his behavior earlier. It was an unbelievably generous gesture but unnecessary. Barry had never been one to sweep his faults under the rug. He'd lost his mind right when he needed it the most, and he would deal with what that meant later. Right now, he needed answers. He had to hear it from Rudy himself.

"Then, I'll activate the speakers and microphones so you can hear each other," Clark took a few steps back from him in a show of trust that Barry wouldn't betray him and attack again. Barry powered down his mini electrical storm, because he wasn't entirely sure that he wouldn't.

He concentrated on Wally as Diana removed the tint from Rudy's side of the cell. It would be okay if he just remembered that his nephew needed him to hold it together. Clark activated the communication systems, and Barry watched as his brother-in-law realized that he could see through the glass again. He stared straight at Barry.

"Why did you do this?"

Rudy didn't answer at first. His eyes were wide and filled with madness. He studied all of the heroes in the room for a long time before speaking. "It's his own fault. I didn't have any choice."

Rage flared up within Barry dangerously, "What do you mean you didn't have a choice?! You tried to kill your son for no reason!"

" _My_ son! That means that whatever I do to him is no business of yours! Ever since you-" Rudy's shouting cut off suddenly, and his heavy glare became momentary confusion as Barry's words caught up to him. "He's alive…?"

Barry nodded tersely, "I brought him back."

Rudy exploded in a rage, lunging against the steel restraints keeping him fastened to the chair. His face turned purple, and several veins in his neck popped out. " _You had no right! He isn't your son, Allen!_ You've been trying to steal him from me for years – I knew _exactly_ what you were doing – poisoning him against me!"

Barry was speechless. He stared at Rudy slack-jawed and horrified while, beside him, he could hear Diana's fists clenching around her sword. Clark similarly seemed to be battling very hard to keep his emotions in check, if the glowing red pinpricks beginning to grow in his eyes were anything to go by. Their reactions reminded Barry quite starkly that he wasn't the only one appalled by what Rudy had done.

Hal's response was something else entirely. His power ring fired up with an otherworldly sound, and he was right up a foot from the glass in seconds, "You haven't been his _father_ for years! You lost that right the second you laid a hand on him!"

"I was making him better!" Rudy raved. "Making him stronger."

Barry felt his limbs vibrate furiously, "You _abused_ him! The only thing you did was damage him."

"I made him tougher." Rudy insisted, still fighting against the chains holding him in place, "He needed to be brought back down to Earth and stop thinking about being a goddamn _superhero_!"

Very slowly, an awful feeling began to set in, and Barry stared hard at Rudy, trying to figure out what his instincts were trying to tell him.

" _I_ did more for him than you ever did!" Rudy continued, spittle flying from his mouth. Barry's anger kept rising dangerously, and he tried to keep his hands from shaking. "You only encouraged his ridiculous science dreams and helped him waste his life fighting halfwit lowlifes like Mirror Master. And he loved you for it! He wanted _you_ to be his real father! I overheard him say it myself when he was on the phone with one of those other freak sidekicks! That's always how it's been – when we were growing up, my father always favored Iris. He spent a fortune sending her all over the world when she graduated, and now my own son loves _you_ more! But, that's what you always wanted, wasn't it Allen? You did it all on purpose to steal Wally away from me!"

Barry didn't say anything at first. He couldn't even _think_ through his fury. The feeling in his gut intensified tenfold. Beside him, Hal was staring at Rudy in open disbelief.

"Of course he wouldn't want you to be his father, you pathetic little man," Diana spoke up from behind them all. Barry turned to regard her and saw that her face was white as a sheet of paper, and her lips were pulled thin into a severe line. Her voice was frigid and full of disgust. "You abused him all his life."

"I had to!" Rudy screamed at her. "Especially after he got his powers. He needed to be put in his place!"

The revelation hit Barry like a haymaker delivered by Superman. The hairs on the back of his neck rose up, and his rage approached maximum.

"You're jealous of him," Barry breathed out slowly. Rudy snapped his head over to look right at him, and he knew that he'd gotten it exactly right judging by his expression. "You're jealous that your son is smarter than you, and stronger than you, and has a better future ahead of him that you _ever_ did."

 _"Shut the hell up!"_ Rudy lunged against his bindings furiously.

But Barry didn't relent. He stalked towards the glass, closing the remaining distance between them, "You didn't beat Wally to try and 'fix' him; you used that to gain power over him."

"Barry," Clark said warningly when the speedster's body started sparking.

Barry ignored him. His vision began to blur again, and his ears started ringing. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Hal watching him closely with an odd look on his face – almost like he was a little scared. But that was ridiculous. Hal wasn't afraid of anything.

"You resented Wally for being special," Barry brought a fist down on the glass and focused every ounce of his revulsion into the most hateful glare he could muster. "You were jealous of your son when you should have been proud of him."

The others all made moves to stop him, but they wouldn't be fast enough. A deadly calm washed over Barry, and his mind became crystal clear. He'd just started vibrating his molecules to slip through the glass barrier when the door slid open again. Barry coiled the muscles in his legs to propel him forward at the same time that an arm hooked around his waist and jerked him sideways, bringing him crashing towards the ground. He righted himself with a roll and had time to glance around for his attacker. It hadn't been Clark; he wasn't fast enough.

He had enough time to block twelve blows before the thirteenth took him out. The last thing he saw was Max Mercury socking him in the face.

Barry didn't know how long he'd been out when he came to, but his head hurt like he'd run face first at a bus going downhill at top speed. He just lay there very still while his mind backtracked through his memories and rapidly pieced together what had happened. Then, he was fully awake.

Rudy…

He remained very still and listened carefully to the voices speaking above him. At first, it sounded like every word was spoken underwater, but his hearing sharpened quickly. Barry kept his eyes shut and tried to keep his breathing even so that they'd think he was still unconscious.

_"You need to get planetside fast."_

Barry tried not to screw up his face in concentration. That sounded like…Mister Terrific, maybe?

"I'm not going anywhere until things have calmed down up here." That was definitely Clark. He had one of those voices – you could recognize it anywhere. Barry had no idea how he kept his secret identity intact. "J'onn will just have to stall. There are too many factors that we need to settle first before we deal with Washington."

"Batman is still figuring out a story for us," Diana's voice added. "He says that we're going to need another Leaguer to make it work."

She sounded especially unhappy about that.

"I told him _I'd_ do it," Hal sounded exasperated and impatient.

"You can't," That was Max's voice. Barry worked hard to control his anger. "It needs to be someone who won't be missed right away. You're in the public eye too much. Plus, your duties as a Lantern rule you out anyway."

"Then, _you_ do it," Hal replied, irritated. "You're retired; it's perfect."

"I'm not in the League. I was never part of any team, or I would."

"Then Jay-"

"Jay was in the Justice Society," Diana said with a sigh. "He won't work and neither will Johnny."

"And, remember, we're trying to separate Kid Flash from _anything_ having to do with speedsters. None of them could be our first choices anyways because of that," Clark spoke pensively.

 _"I don't think you get it,"_ Terrific's voice sounded slightly mechanical like it was coming through a speaker. _"J'onn says that they're getting ready to send the Marines up here. We need to handle this quickly."_

"Give us five more hours," Clark tried to bargain. "Batman will have a story for us by then, and hopefully Kid Flash's condition will have changed."

 _"_ Two _hours will be a stretch, but we'll give it a shot."_

"Tell General Eiling that I will be down there personally by the end of the night and that the Justice League plans on giving them full details once our investigation is complete. However, we will _not_ be releasing Robert Rudolph West into US custody under any circumstances. He's committed crimes against the League, and he's not going anywhere."

 _"They're not going to like that,"_ Terrific warned skeptically.

"Then they aren't going to like it," Clark said simply, and Barry heard the transmission cut off.

He cracked one eye open to check who was still in the room with him and immediately saw green. Hal must've trapped him in a ring construct while he was unconscious. He discreetly moved one of his toes and felt it slide across the floor without the buffer of his uniform's yellow boots. Well, he wasn't breaking out of Hal's crude prison _that_ way. Barry opened his eye a little wider and looked past the green force field to the holding cell's divider.

Someone had darkened both sides at some point, so Barry was left staring at his slightly warped reflection instead of Rudy. He scanned the rest of the mirror surface and spotted Clark, Diana, and Hal grouped together by the small surveillance screen connected to the Watchtower's monitor womb. Max's reflection showed him leaning directly against the glass in one of the corners.

He stared at the glass itself then. It didn't look like anyone had moved Rudy to a different cell. They wouldn't have tinted the glass if that were the case.

"Think he'll be reasonable when he wakes up?"

Barry snapped his eye shut again, feeling annoyed at how quickly Hal had changed sides.

"Of course he won't," Max said irritably. "He's protecting his family. I'd like to see any of _you_ three acting reasonable if you were put in his position."

"We aren't berating him or judging him at all," Clark spoke up next, trying to reassure Max. "This is the first time that I've _ever_ seen Barry anywhere close to this angry."

"He has always been very level-headed and pleasant in all the time that I've known him," Diana sounded curious. "I didn't think him capable of this kind of rage."

"Neither did I, honestly," Hal's voice was much closer now, and Barry could hear his footsteps approaching the green energy bubble. "It's a good thing he had us here to stop him."

" _You_ were going to let him _kill_ West," Diana snapped at him suddenly.

"No," Hal argued. "I was going to let him beat the stuffing out of Wally's dad. Vent some anger, you know? I didn't think he might kill him until I saw that crazy look in his eyes."

Barry had had enough of listening at that point; he sure as hell didn't need to relive everything. He started to stir gradually, pretending like he was just waking up. All around him, Barry heard his friends take up defensive stances and ready for a fight. He got up slowly and rubbed his aching jaw tenderly, turning to throw a glare at Max.

The elderly speedster shrugged and flexed his fists, "You didn't leave me much choice, son."

The green ring construct flickered out, and Hal approached him with his hands up, "Sorry about that, man. I'm just trying to look out for you."

Barry waved off the apology, "How long was I out?"

"A little over an hour," Clark stepped towards him as well. Barry looked at him incredulously. One punch to the face had put him down for an _hour_? Since when was he that tender-headed?

"I sedated you. Thought we might need it judging by the way you tore out of the med bay," Max picked up an empty syringe that was lying on a small ridge set into the wall and waved it in his hand by means of an answer. "You should go back up there soon and check on your nephew. Before you ask, there hasn't been any change, but I'm sure he'd handle things much better if both his aunt and uncle were there when he woke up."

Barry nodded in agreement and zipped across the room, momentarily startling everyone, to retrieve his boots. He jammed them back on for the second time that day and was just opening his mouth to thank everyone and apologize for losing control when Hal casually dropped a bomb on him.

"I wouldn't mention anything that Rudy said to him just yet, though," the Green Lantern advised. He crossed his arms and dropped his guard once he was confident that Barry wasn't about to flip on them and attack again, "I can't believe that prick 'demanded' to see his son. Like he has any right…"

Clark and Diana both looked over at Hal in slack-jawed horror like they couldn't believe he'd just said that. Barry froze from his position by the door and slowly pivoted around to look at Hal dangerously, _"….What?"_

Hal withered, suddenly realizing his screw up, "Right. He said that _after_ Max knocked you out…didn't he?"

There was no way in hell that Barry was _ever_ letting Rudy get within a thousand feet of Wally. How dare he command them to let him see Wally after what he'd done? This was the last straw. Barry charged at the glass, enraged at Rudy's audacity. Superman snagged his chest and tried in vain to put him in a chokehold at the same time that Hal threw up nine green barriers between them and the partition.

Off to the side, Max hadn't budged from his spot in the corner. He pulled out a communicator, and Barry heard him call out to Batman after sighing deeply in exasperation, "Yeah, we're going to need Jay and Johnny down here right now. Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman aren't going to be enough…"

_"Barry, you need to get the hell out of here and go to your nephew, or I swear to God I'm tossing you out of the airlock!"_

0000

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[The Watchtower

March 16, 04:00 CDT]

_"Recognize: Flash – 04"_

Barry stalked out of the zeta tube and down the small set of steps leading to the observation deck. At four in the morning, the Watchtower was usually deserted. There were normally only a handful of technicians on board and one Leaguer on monitor duty for the night keeping an eye out for global alerts.

 _This_ morning, the satellite was swarming with Leaguers. Barry zipped past them all, heading to the holding cells where he discovered the entire level sealed shut by the emergency airlock doors. He felt his stomach drop anxiously. Those doors were only triggered in an emergency lockdown or if the outer hull was breached. His brother-in-law wasn't capable of causing either situation. There was no way he could get past the Leaguer stationed outside his cell and _absolutely_ no way that he could break his way through the promethium reinforced titanium panels making up the outer shell of the satellite.

The only thing Bruce had told him when he'd called was that Rudy was missing from his cell, and he needed to get up to the Watchtower as soon as possible.

He was beginning to get a terrible feeling about this. Barry left the deserted level behind and sprinted back up the floors, heading for the central hub where he might find some answers. He was zooming by the primary Javelin hangar when he heard someone shouting his name after him.

Barry came to a halt and turned around. Elongated Man was chasing him down, waving one stretched out arm frantically, "Flash!"

He sped over to Ralph, "Do you know what's going on?"

Elongated Man was the first superhero that Barry had befriended after becoming the Flash. He and his wife, Sue, used to spend a lot of time traveling around the world. They'd even worked as detectives for a time, solving a lot of mysteries during their travels before Ralph was asked to join the League.

"I was called up a few minutes ago by an alert saying that the Watchtower had been attacked," Ralph returned his limbs to their normal lengths. "Black Lightning and I are stationed at the Javelin bay doing security sweeps. I heard you speeding by."

Barry frowned in confusion. Batman hadn't said anything about the satellite being attacked. What the hell was going on?

"The big six are waiting for you up top," Ralph told him solemnly. He was referring to the founding members of the Justice League. Including Barry, there were seven of them total: Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Hal, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter.

"Are they in the meeting chamber?"

Ralph shook his head, "Monitor womb."

Barry left without another word and was at the heart of the Watchtower in seconds. The monitor womb was a circular room with a domed ceiling. In the center of the floor was a three-dimensional holographic image of the Earth surrounded by various computer terminals. It highlighted different points on the globe wherever alerts and disasters were located. Whoever was on monitor duty could use the League's network of smaller satellites to bring up detailed pictures and video feeds on the screens lining the walls and dispatch Leaguers appropriately.

When Barry arrived, he found all of his teammates gathered around the holographic screens. Bruce was at the terminal typing away and pulling up various images in new screens all over with Hal and Orin looking over his shoulders. Clark and J'onn were both crouched down on either side of Diana, who was slumped over in one of the chairs and looking bruised and battered.

Barry was at her side in an instant, examining her injuries more closely, "What happened?!"

Diana was a mess. Half of her face was covered in what looked like one massive bruise. One of her eyes was blackened and almost completely swollen shut, she had a long trickle of blood flowing freely from a gash at her hairline, and her skin was smeared with a mixture of sweat, dust, and blood. Parts of her costume were torn and looked _burned_.

Diana looked up at Barry when he spoke, her blue eyes fierce and angry. She spat out a mouthful of blood and tossed her hair out of her face, "I was in here on monitor duty for the night when about forty minutes ago the long-range scanners started picking up small spacecrafts approaching the Watchtower. I barely had time to warn Black Canary before the detention level was breached from the _outside_. Then, the defense systems started warning me about intruders and went into full lockdown. I sent out an S.O.S. to Metropolis and Atlantis, and then went to help Black Canary as fast as I could. When I got there, she was down, and the entire level was overrun with enemies."

Barry exchanged grim looks with Clark. Apparently, he hadn't missed her retelling the attack. Superman touched Diana's shoulder lightly, his eyes looking over the worst of her injuries worriedly, "What did they look like?"

She took a deep breath and winced at the pain, "There were at least a hundred of them, and they were either all wearing the same masks, or they're identical. The power was out on that level and there was smoke everywhere, so I never got a great look, but I think they were wearing some kind of blue and red armor."

Hal looked over at her then, startled. He had an odd expression on his face.

"They were blowing open all of the holding cells and then moving on like they were looking for someone," Diana continued grimly. "And they only attacked me when I started fighting my way over to Black Canary. I didn't even manage to take out _one_ of them before they overpowered me, but then they just _left_ without finishing us off."

"They obtained what they came for," J'onn guessed.

Clark nodded in agreement, "It makes sense. Once they had what they wanted, there wasn't any point in fighting you anymore."

"Cowards," Diana spat venomously.

"What did they fight with?" Hal asked suddenly, his attention no longer on the monitors.

Diana frowned in concentration. She rubbed her head gingerly, "Some kind of spear, or maybe a staff. They all shot energy blasts from them, but they didn't need any weapons; they knew how to fight, and they knew how to hit hard. It almost felt like metal."

Hal went completely white.

"Bruce said that Rudy was gone," Barry said slowly. "Do you know where he is?"

Diana shook her head regretfully, "His cell was the one that the intruders left through. They just blasted a hole in the side and flew out. I was only knocked out for a few seconds, but he was missing from the cell when I went to give chase. I don't know if they killed him or took him with them."

"We'll know in a minute," Bruce finally spoke. All of the monitors in the room, including the slowly rotating model of the earth, disappeared and one larger screen popped up to take their place. "I managed to retrieve the surveillance footage of the detention level. Whoever they were, they infected the Watchtower's systems with a virus that lowered the defenses and put most of the cameras offline. It also dumped most of the security logs. They hacked into my systems in less than a second. I've never seen anything like this."

"No wonder you didn't know they were here until they were crawling all over the hull," Orin was standing upright beside Bruce with his arms crossed over his chest regally.

The monitor was all static as Bruce worked furiously to bring the footage up. It cleared suddenly, and Barry could see the brightly lit hallway running between the holding cells. Further down the rows, Black Canary stood outside of the door to Rudy's cell. It had been the only one occupied at the time. The video ran normally for a few minutes: no one came in or out of the detention level, and Dinah moved minimally.

Then, a massive explosion blew out the cell immediately to the camera's left. Smoke and dust and huge chunks of twisted and charred steel spilled out into the hallway. The lights in the ceiling flickered valiantly to stay on, but they all went dark at once. Barry watched Dinah startle and drop to a defensive crouch in response to the explosion. She was too far away from the camera to see her face, but he could see her head turn towards the door to Rudy's cell and then to the gaping hole in the wall.

Scores of bodies steadily stepped through the newly made portal, barely visible through the whirling clouds of debris, but Barry could make out shapes and movement well enough. He could see Dinah leave her post and run to the middle of the hall to meet the intruders head on. They just kept pouring through the breach in neat formations and began systematically destroying the doors to every single holding cell that they passed. The most unnerving thing about them was that they all moved in the exact same way, they all looked to be the exact same height, and most of them even appeared to be in perfect sync with one another.

"This is when Black Canary alerted me to the attack," Diana spoke darkly as she watched the feed.

Barry strained his eyes to catch a glimpse of any detail they could use to identify the intruders, but as they broke into more of the cells, the smoke and now fire only got worse. Curiously, the attackers completely ignored Dinah until she released a concussive canary cry at their formation. After that, they pulled out strange staffs and brought them up at Dinah, shooting a barrage of glowing energy blasts at her.

Black Canary expertly dodged the worst of them but took a nasty hit right in her gut. She was thrown onto her back and struggled to get back up again as the intruders gained ground on her. They kept moving on breaking into the holding cells while a small group peeled off from the mass to advance on Dinah. She lay still as if she were unconscious, but once one of the intruders bent down and lifted her up by the neck, she opened her eyes and unleashed a massive scream right into its face.

The smoke cleared enough for Barry to make out _pieces_ of the attacker's head and part of a shoulder flying off. He could see flashes of red and blue armor like Diana had described whenever their weapons discharged. And they were _big_.

The one holding Dinah staggered back under the force of the scream but remained standing. He whipped his arm back, sending Dinah swinging like a rag doll, and smashed her into the wall like it was nothing. Barry saw her arm dislocate on impact and her skull crack into the steel.

The intruder dropped her, and Dinah just crumpled to the floor. Five more of the troopers fired energy blasts at her prone body before moving on to helping break open more cells. Those doors were made at half the strength of the Watchtower's outer shell, yet they were taking them out in a matter of seconds each. And they only did a cursory sweep of the inside of each cell before leaving it behind entirely.

The intruders blasted into two more cells before Diana came running into the hall. Again, the intruders only went after her when she landed the first blow. They all watched Diana fight as hard as she could against the small army. She took multiple hits from the energy blasts, and got in three times that many hits on the attackers but was dealing minimal damage on them. The fight wore on in that manner for several tense minutes.

Once the attackers reached holding cell number eight though, they changed tactics entirely. Barry watched two of the hulking figures enter the room, discharge their power batons a few times, and walk back out with Rudy a few seconds later.

In the middle of the hall, one of the intruders grabbed a fistful of Diana's hair and slammed its knee into her face. She went down hard, and the attackers took the momentary halt in battle to calmly walk back out through the hole that they'd made earlier. Rudy walked out with them, un-coerced, with a smug grin on his face.

By that time, the smoke had cleared enough for them to see the small army very clearly.

" _Pause that!_ " Hal gasped out quickly, staring at the screen in full on horror. Barry was almost positive that seeing his brother-in-law happily leaving with a battalion had put the exact same expression on his own face.

Bruce froze the video, and Barry examined the attackers closely. They _were_ identical, down to the blue and red armor and their stoic faces, which were quite clearly made of metal. They could easily clear seven feet tall and looked to weigh over five hundred pounds. Every single one of them carried a long power baton and had glowing red eyes that lit up the smoke.

"Do you recognize them?" Clark asked, slowly getting to his feet after he and J'onn finished cleaning and dressing Diana's more grievous wounds.

"Those are Manhunters," Hal said grimly, and his words held a weight that Barry didn't understand.

Orin, Clark, and Diana looked to J'onn in surprise. He appeared to be equally baffled by Hal's declaration, "I have never encountered such beings before, since arriving here on Terra or before on Ma'aleca'andra."

"Not _Martian_ Manhunters," Hal still looked too distressed by what he was seeing. "They're androids."

"You're sure that you know what these things are?" Bruce glanced sideways at him impassively. Barry knew that Hal was smart, but sometimes his antics painted him as unreliable.

"Positive," he shot back irritably before returning to the image of the newly identified intruders. "It was the first thing I learned in Green Lantern History 101."

"What do these Manhunters have to do with the Green Lantern Corps?" Diana asked from off to the side.

"Only _everything_ ," Hal scoffed. "These things were the very first Green Lanterns."

Barry felt his eyes widen in surprise, and he stared straight at Hal in disbelief along with everyone else in the room, " _Those_ are Green Lanterns?!"

"No, of course n- Okay, look. You know how the Lantern Corps is like the universe's police force? Well, the Guardians made these guys _first_ to do that job something like three and a half billion years ago."

"It doesn't look like that worked out too well," Clark looked back up at the stilled screen of the departing Manhunter army.

"It didn't," Hal continued. "The Guardians designed them to fight evil all over the universe, and they worked pretty well for thousands of years. But the Manhunters are essentially robots; they don't have any emotions. That was their big flaw. So, after a while, they got obsessed with hunting criminals down, and it wasn't about justice anymore. Then, one day they all malfunctioned at the same time and came to the conclusion that the only way to rid the universe of evil was to remove all organic life. And that's when the Massacre of Sector 666 happened."

"What's that?" Barry asked, overwhelmed by the tense atmosphere.

"The Manhunters all converged on Sector 666 and slaughtered every single intelligent life form they came across," Hal said gravely.

Orin took a step back in alarm, and his arms dropped to his sides in shock, "They murdered an entire world?"

"No, a _sector_. Do you know how many planets are in a sector?" Hal shook his head sadly. "I have over thirty in mine alone. We're talking _trillions_ of lives wiped out. Only five beings survived out of all of those planets. The Guardians managed to stop them before they could move onto another sector. They destroyed most of the Manhunters, but some escaped. After that, the Guardians formed the Green Lantern Corps. I never thought I'd ever actually _see_ a Manhunter…"

The room was silent for a long time then as everything sunk in. Barry tried to imagine the kind of force and firepower it would take to kill that many people. He was having trouble even fathoming that _number_.

All of a sudden, Barry came to a disturbing realization that turned his blood ice cold.

What was Wally's father doing getting freed by rogue Manhunters?

"Well, now we've _all_ seen one. A lot of them," Bruce pushed away from the terminal and turned around in his chair to look at them all grimly. "And they're in our sector."


	5. Chapter 5

[Keystone City

March 16, 05:00 CDT]

Wally thought that he was holding it together pretty well.

Right after Uncle Barry hung up with Batman, he'd moved the entire family – including Dick and Roy – across the river to Keystone before running off to teleport up to the Watchtower. Jay and Joan Garrick had welcomed them without question and agreed that it wasn't safe for them to remain at the house in Central with his father missing from his cell and knowing full well where they were living.

Jay had taken Aunt Iris into the kitchen to get some coffee brewing while Joan went back upstairs to prepare the guest room and bring some blankets out from the linen closet for the couches. Roy had unfolded his collapsible bow with a violent jerk of his arm and slung his quiver over his shoulder, calmly declaring that he would be on the roof if anyone needed him.

Dick had briefly looked like he wanted to stop him, but they had _both_ seen Roy completely lose his shit half an hour ago. Wally kind of figured that he needed some time to cool down – that or he was casing the perimeter while playing sentry.

Wally had tried to nonchalantly excuse himself to 'use the restroom' without raising his best friend's suspicions. He'd all but sprinted up the staircase to the Garrick's bathroom and locked the door behind him before sinking to the floor and pressing his face into his hands. He then braced his back against the door and closed his eyes as tightly as he could.

So, that wasn't panicking, right? He was doing pretty well. No hyperventilating, no hysterical screaming, no sobbing uncontrollably. This was good. He _had_ basically run away and locked himself in a bathroom though. No, no, wait. That's exactly what he'd done.

Alright, so maybe he wasn't doing so well. He couldn't even think. Wally opened his eyes and peered through his fingers at the palm tree shower curtain hanging directly in front of him. The little cartoonish islands and trees gave him an idea.

A great idea.

He needed a change of scenery to clear his head. Wally bet that he could totally think better _at the beach_. Just him and the sun, the sand, and the sound of the waves – well, no, not the sun. At least not yet; it was still pretty early in the morning, but he could do it. The closest ocean beach was only like 890 miles if he ran straight south. He'd be at the Gulf of Mexico in no time.

And he'd be alone. Wally would be able to _think_ about this without worrying about everyone judging him. He was constantly freaking out over making the wrong decision and ticking off all the people who had worked so hard to help him.

Speaking of which… Nothing would piss everyone off more than him running off by himself right after he'd found out that his father was missing from one of the most secure locations in the solar system. Wally drew his knees up and rested his forehead on them with a groan. There was no way he could do that to his family and his friends.

God, but he wanted to run _so_ badly. His powers were one of the very few things that had made it all bearable before. Number one was, of course, his mother's safety, and the chance to be just like his favorite hero was the topping on it all. Wally _loved_ his speed and the freedom that it gave him.

However, right now he was suffocating. There were too many walls surrounding him – trapping him. He needed to run, but now _really_ wasn't the time. Wally shook out his limbs in frustration and pressed the back of his head against the door, staring up at the ceiling. He could do this; he was stubborn enough. He just had to go slow for once and work it all out piece by piece.

Wally blinked tiredly and focused on the small light bulbs fixed above the mirror. Alright, what was first? His father was missing. How did he feel about that? Wally chewed on the inside of his cheek while his stomach churned endlessly. He felt pretty terrified, honestly. Logically, he knew that it didn't make any sense to fear his father anymore. He didn't have his mother to protect, so there was no reason to take his dad's abuse. The only reason Wally had gotten shot before was because he'd been taken by surprise. Under normal circumstances, he was stronger and _so_ hilariously faster than his father. But there were a few things that didn't make sense.

All Uncle Barry had said was that his father was gone. Did that mean he had escaped? If that was the case, how had his _dad_ outsmarted the Justice League? How had he gotten out of his cell by himself, snuck by the guard that Uncle Barry told him was stationed by him at all times until he got relocated to isolation permanently, and then hijacked the Watchtower's zeta transport? There was no way.

So he'd had help escaping, assuming that he had escaped at all. Maybe he was still hiding somewhere on the Watchtower, trapped. Or maybe someone had kidnapped him from his cell. Wally's brain whirled around with all the possibilities of that – _Why?_ Who the hell would want him? And for what? It was extremely unlikely, so he backtracked.

If his father had escaped, he would have needed help to do it – no question about that. So, who had he gotten help from? Someone in the League? That seemed both the most likely and unlikely at the same time. What Justice Leaguer would want Wally's dad free from his cell? His dad certainly wasn't friends with anyone in the League and definitely not close enough with anyone to make them betray it. So, maybe someone in the League had needed him for something. But for what? His father worked at a power plant. Wally couldn't think of anything that his father would be important enough for to cause someone to break him out of a prison.

So, next option then. Maybe someone in the League had wanted Wally's dad so that they could use him against him somehow. It was completely ridiculous, but it was possible. Wally liked to think that he left a good enough impression on most of the League members he'd met through Uncle Barry that none of them wanted him dead. It would be a tad extreme if that were the case, seeing as Wally couldn't think of any grievous insult he'd delivered to anyone terrible enough to warrant revenge. That, plus the fact that Uncle Barry was generally one of the nicest and most well liked members of the League was enough to rule that possibility out.

Wally didn't honestly believe that any of the Justice Leaguers would help his dad escape. There really wasn't a reason to. But, _someone_ had helped him escape – if he'd even escaped at all; Wally still wasn't sure. That set up a whole other line of questions by itself. Who would want him? Again, _what_ would they want him for? Who did his father know who was strong enough to break him out of a Watchtower holding cell? _How_ the hell did his father even _know_ anyone strong enough to break him out of a Watchtower holding cell?!

And with that, Wally felt a full on migraine creeping up on him. He didn't have a single answer to any of his questions, and the only thing he'd accomplished was inducing another panic attack.

There was no way he was going to be able to go back downstairs and pretend like he was fine if he kept this up. Wally grabbed the edge of the sink and dragged himself to his feet. He turned on the tap and splashed some water on his face to calm down.

Wally almost walked out of the bathroom right after he wiped his face dry, but he caught sight of himself in the mirror and stopped dead. He stared at his own reflection in dawning horror, fingernails digging painfully into his palms.

Anyone watching him might have thought that he was shocked at how far he had deteriorated physically. The strain of healing and the energy that it had taken had been especially brutal combined with his metabolism. Wally had lost over twenty-five pounds while he'd been recovering in the med bay, including most of his muscle mass. It had been impossible to eat enough to gain _any_ weight when all of his fuel was being immediately consumed for his accelerated healing. He'd gained back a few pounds since his injuries no longer required constant repair and his body could afford not to burn up every scrap of food he ate instantly. But his face was still thinner than it had ever been, and Wally could see that his shirt was much looser. His eyes were no longer sunken in, but they were bloodshot, and his skin had finally regained a tiny bit of color.

This wasn't what had stopped him.

Wally tentatively reached out and touched his reflection. He had the same eyebrows as his dad – not the same color, but the same shape and thickness. His ears were almost identical, and the line of his jaw sloped exactly the same way as his father's. Wally touched his chin and turned his head to the side to get a better look, feeling nauseous now. He'd never really thought that he looked like his father before, but now it was unmistakable. The similarities were glaringly obvious now and stood out starkly like they were mocking him.

He tossed the towel aside and ripped his eyes away, yanking open the bathroom door and turning off the light just in case he saw something else in his peripherals.

Wally turned around after he closed the door behind him and came face to face with Dick, who was silently leaning right against the doorframe with his arms crossed. His best friend's ridiculously blue eyes were staring straight at him, eyebrows turned slightly downwards in concern.

Wow, so he hadn't been quite as nonchalant as he'd hoped. Wally plastered a huge fake grin on his face and strolled past Dick, shooting him a weirded out look, "Gross, man. Were you listening to me use the bathroom?"

Dick cocked an eyebrow at him, clearly not having any of his garbage. His piercing eyes bored holes through Wally, making him squirm uncomfortably in place. Honestly, Wally didn't know why he bothered trying to put up an act around Dick. The Boy Wonder saw through it every time anyways.

"Are you alright?" Dick asked quietly, the look in his eyes softening.

"Yes, I'm fine," Wally said a little more sharply than he'd meant to, yet he still stuck to his lie stubbornly. "Geez, can't a guy take a leak in peace?"

Dick didn't respond. He just looked back at Wally sadly and took his arm, leading them both into the guestroom. He nudged the door shut with his foot and hooked one hand around the back of Wally's neck and gripped his shoulder with the other, still staying silent.

Wally dropped the act immediately. He felt his limbs trembling faintly, and he clamped his jaw shut tightly to keep his composure. Dick gently rubbed his thumb along the fabric of Wally's sleeve and looked at him seriously. They were almost the same height now, Wally noted. When had that happened? And when had his shoulders gotten so broad?

"No more lies," Dick whispered solemnly. "No more hidden truths. We tell each other everything from now on, remember?"

Wally _did_ remember. It had been that first night after Uncle Barry revived him. Dick had snuck back into the med bay and stayed with him the whole night. He'd promised to be with Wally every step of the way, and it looked like he had no intention of going back on his word.

So, Wally let go. He nodded and felt Dick's fingers move against his hair soothingly, "Yeah…"

" _So_ , are you alright?" Dick repeated quietly, this time expecting an honest answer.

Wally looked down at his feet and shook his head, "Not really. I almost took off for the coast a few seconds ago."

Dick scrunched up his face in alarm. His right arm tightened convulsively on Wally's shoulder, "East coast?"

"Ew, no," Wally blurted suddenly. "I've seen Gotham's water before. I was thinking more Texas."

"What's wrong with Gotham's harbor?" Dick frowned defensively.

"Um, a lot…" Wally trailed off at the look his friend was giving him. "Oh, come on! The first time I came to Gotham, Scarecrow was dumping a _fear toxin_ into it!"

"Gotham isn't the only city on the East coast, you know." Dick looked away slowly, clearly remembering the event very well.

"Yeah, well, I'm more of a southern coast kind of guy."

"Why were you about to leave, anyway?" Dick asked. "Feeling caged?"

Wally felt his eyes widen in surprise, "It was mostly just manic decision making, but yeah. How'd you know?"

The acrobat shrugged like it hadn't been very hard to figure out at all, "You're a runner who hasn't been allowed to run for two months. It's kind of a no brainer."

"Uncle Barry and I were going to run to California tomorrow too," Wally lamented. That trip was almost definitely cancelled now. It would have felt so good to break the sound barrier again…

"It'll be okay," Dick shifted closer, removing some of the space left between them. His voice dropped lower, and he looked serious again. "The League will find your dad and lock him away again for good this time. And then everything will go back to normal. You'll be zipping all over the place in no time."

Wally looked at Dick, eyeing his friend's confident smile, and felt his stomach settle back down. Why the hell was it so easy for Dick to calm him down? He smiled back and pulled Dick into a tight hug, wrapping his own arms around the smaller boy's back.

Dick gave a small noise of surprise and tensed up like he'd been electrocuted. Wally had been about to let go to see what had happened when Dick squeezed back suddenly.

"Thanks," Wally whispered into his best friend's shoulder.

Dick pulled back just enough to look at him, and his easy grin melted away all of the stress in Wally, "You don't ever have to thank me."

The door to the guestroom opened then, and Joan walked in carrying an armful of blankets. She jerked to a halt with a startled gasp when she saw them and nearly dropped her load. Wally and Dick sprang apart immediately. He ran his fingers through his bright red hair in embarrassment, and Dick fumbled to jam his sunglasses back onto his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Joan quickly backed out of the room. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

Wally saw Dick turn bright red beneath his shades and felt his own face heat up too. He didn't know why exactly he was reacting this way; they hadn't been doing anything to be embarrassed about, right? So why the heck was his heart racing like he'd just run across the Atlantic?

Wait, why had _Dick_ freaked out?

"You weren't!" Dick said hastily, pulling the door back open before Joan had the chance to close it all the way. "We were just talking! Can I help you with those?"

He took Joan's armful of blankets and started down the stairs quickly, "Where did you want them? On the couches? I can do that for you."

And then Dick was downstairs and out of sight.

Wally exchanged a stunned look with Joan, who was still standing with her arms out, and shrugged. His embarrassment quickly faded in the face of his confusion.

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Dick tossed all four blankets on the small floral loveseats in the Garrick's family room before heading to the kitchen where he could hear Jay and Wally's aunt speaking. He touched a hand to his burning face and groaned internally.

'Super smooth, Grayson', he thought miserably. 'That wasn't at all suspicious.'

Truth be told, it was probably a good thing that Mrs. Garrick had walked in just then. Dick had almost been about to… well, do _something_ that was sure to screw up a lot of things for a very long time. He'd just been so caught up in the soft texture of Wally's hair between his fingers, and the feeling of Wally's arms around him, and being the lifeline that Wally needed to center himself. He'd thought he had a handle on his confusion about Wally. Although, after much consideration and hindsight, he didn't think he was very confused anymore.

Dick was furious with himself for giving in. He'd made a promise to himself - not even a day old yet – to put all his feelings on the backburner until everything was sorted out. He would need a clear head free of any other pressing agendas if he was going to be any good to Wally.

He swung open the door to the Garrick's kitchen and found both Jay and Iris sitting at the little dining table clutching steaming mugs and looking weary. Jay looked up when Dick walked in and offered a smile.

"Everything alright, Robin?" Jay asked.

He tried nodding normally. The action felt oddly mechanical.

"Was Wally okay?" Iris didn't look away from her hands.

"I calmed him down a little, I think," Dick took the seat that Jay had pushed out for him and folded his arms on the table, resting his chin in the cradle that they made.

The elderly speedster reached behind him to grab a mug from the counter and the fresh pot of coffee. He set both on the table in front of Dick and gestured to the sugar and cream already sitting in the middle, "Have some coffee, son."

Dick would have preferred some of Alfred's tea instead, but he'd drank his share of coffee over the years in order to keep up with Bruce's late nights patrolling Gotham. He poured himself a full cup, preferring it black, and took a big gulp of the scalding liquid.

Joan and Wally stepped into the kitchen soon after. Joan was smiling very happily and patting Wally on the back while he had a deeply disturbed and confused look on his bright red face.

Dick almost choked on his coffee. Oh God, what had they talked about?

Wally plopped down in the seat beside his aunt and frowned down at the table silently. He half glanced over at Dick before turning redder and dropping his eyes again. Great…

Joan suddenly reached out from behind Dick and set a massive cinnamon roll in front of him with a fork. He blinked at it in surprise; it was easily bigger than his face. She went around the table passing them out and finally sat down between Wally and Jay with her own cup of coffee, "Go ahead and eat something. You three must be hungry."

Dick noticed that the roll in front of Wally was especially big. So, apparently he wasn't the only one who had noticed that Wally was still too thin. The youngest speedster picked at the cinnamon roll halfheartedly and avoided everyone's gaze.

"Have you heard anything yet?" Dick asked Jay.

"No," he shook his head slowly and held up a small JLA earpiece. "Barry gave me his communicator before he left. He'll let us know when he finds something."

"Okay," he stood up suddenly, snagging the cinnamon roll off the table and darting around to grab Wally's arm. Dick yanked him to his feet and started for the door. "We're going to go bring one of these to Roy. He's probably going to be too stubborn to come inside. Let us know if anything happens."

Right before the front door closed and both boys stumbled out into the slowly lightening morning, Dick heard a baffled 'alright…' follow them out.

"Uh, what's up with you?" Wally pulled his arm free and watched as Dick easily scaled the side of the house and rolled onto the roof.

Dick leaned over the edge and extended one hand down to the redhead, "You were acting weird. Just figured you were getting claustrophobic."

" _I_ was acting weird?" Wally cocked an eyebrow up at him but took a few steps back anyway. He sprinted at the side of the house and managed to run most of the way up it before his feet lost traction. He grabbed the shingles on the edge of the roof with one hand and Dick's offered arm with the other, letting Dick help pull him up.

When they turned around, Roy was already halfway done with the cinnamon roll and watching them with an almost bored expression. His red bow and quiver of arrows were propped against the Garrick's chimney, and he was straddling the roof's ridge with one knee bent up.

Roy took another bite of the pastry, "I assumed this was for me."

"I see you've calmed down," Dick strolled over to the middle of the roof with perfect balance.

Roy nodded towards his weapons, still chewing, "I got to work out some stress."

Dick eyed the surrounding yards and houses warily in the quiet, suburban neighborhood, "What did you shoot?"

He could hear Wally clumsily navigating the rooftop behind him.

"Let's just say that the Garrick's won't have to worry about squirrels and mice for awhile," Roy shrugged.

"That's _really_ redneck, bro," Wally slipped on a shingle and dropped to his knees to better grip the ridge. He eventually just gave up and ended up perching right where he was. "There're a lot of dead bugs up here…"

Roy just rolled his eyes and ignored him. He addressed Dick, "What's going on up there? Has the Watchtower called?"

"…You'd think the rain would wash these away."

Dick shook his head, "No word yet."

"Unless they're like _baked on_. It hasn't snowed in a few days..."

Roy cocked an eyebrow and leaned over to get a better look at Wally, who was staring fixedly at the black asphalt shingles. He sighed and shifted his weight to the other leg to stretch it out some, "They should have contacted us by now. It's been half an hour."

"You know they wouldn't leave us hanging if they could help it," Dick sat down and leaned back on his hands.

"The longer they take, the more worried I get," Roy grumbled. "They should've had this taken care of already. How hard is it to hunt down one lowlife, toss him back in his cell, and punish whoever screwed up security?"

"Then why didn't you go up there yourself when Barry got the call?"

"I wasn't about to leave you and Wally by yourselves down here. Plus, I didn't have my communicator on at the time," He tapped his earpiece to demonstrate.

Wally stopped examining the roof then. He narrowed his eyes at Roy, "Oh, please. Quit acting all superior. The only reason you're in the Justice League and we aren't is because you're older."

Dick could easily relate to Wally's irritation. True, Roy was four years older than him and two years older than Wally, but they all had relatively the same amount of experience in the hero game. Despite this, Roy constantly insisted on undermining them for refusing to abandon their mentors when he had almost a year ago. "He's right. We're just as skilled as you are."

"I _meant_ that I stayed down here to keep you both from doing something reckless," Roy sighed. "Not that you couldn't handle-"

He trailed off mid sentence and stared out into the yard like he wasn't really seeing it. Dick was just about to open his mouth to ask what was wrong when Roy touched his ear, "Yeah, I'm here."

Dick and Wally watched him silently, both straining to hear whoever was talking to him through his communicator.

Roy's expression became dark very quickly as he listened. His whole body tensed up, and he was on his feet and slinging his weapons over his shoulder within seconds. Dick glanced back at Wally in concern, saw the detached look in his eyes and the grim set of his mouth, and was startled to recognize that his best friend was already preparing for the worst.

"I'm on my way," Roy pressed his ear once more and sprinted for the edge of the roof. He crouched down right at the gutters and vaulted over the side, landing in a roll.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" Dick scrambled after him and looked down as the archer stopped for a moment. Wally joined him at the edge of the roof.

"That was Oliver," Roy shouted up at them. "West didn't just escape. Something attacked the Watchtower to break him out, and they nearly killed Black Canary in the process! I'm going up there to see her; Ollie has a hidden arsenal near here. He said that Flash was on his way."

Dick's eyes widened in shock, and he watched his friend take off down the street without another word. He turned to look at Wally only to find that he was alone on the roof. Panicked, Dick swung to the ground and ran into the house.

"Wally?!" he sprinted back to the kitchen and found his friend standing in front of Barry, who was decked out in his full Flash uniform. The loose papers and curtains around the room were still swirling around from the gust of wind he'd created.

Barry pulled back his mask and guided Wally to sit down at one of the kitchen chairs. He looked exactly like he had that first night up in the Watchtower right before Wally had woken up from his coma – tired, defeated, and angry.

Dick hung back by the door, too afraid of interrupting to speak.

"Uncle Barry?" Wally looked up at his mentor worriedly.

"Kid, this is a lot worse than we thought…" Barry ran one hand through his hair.

Jay slowly rose from his chair, eyebrows turned downwards in a deep frown. Joan reached across the table and took Iris' hand.

Wally glanced around at his family before looking back to his uncle for answers, "Where's my dad…?"

"We don't know exactly," Barry crouched down in front of his nephew and looked up at him with apologetic eyes. "The Watchtower was breached by these things that Hal called Manhunters, and they took your father with them when they left."

"They kidnapped him?" Iris asked in dismay.

Barry looked over at her and shook his head, "It looked like the Manhunters were rescuing him, but we're not sure. He _did_ leave with them willingly, though."

"I've never heard of a Manhunter before," Jay said cautiously.

"Hal told us that they're androids created by the Guardians long before the Green Lantern Corps. He said that they were made to police the universe but went rogue and started taking out entire planets," Barry explained quietly. Dick moved closer to try and see Wally's expression, but the redhead was looking down. "Most of them were supposed to have been wiped out, but the Watchtower was just attacked by an army of them."

"My dad went with them willingly?" Wally asked suddenly, still looking down.

Barry seemed reluctant to answer, "It…looked that way."

"And no one knows where they took him?" Wally's voice took on a strange tone that Dick had never heard in him before. He sounded both angry and calm at the same time, and Dick knew that Wally was rapidly approaching his breaking point. Why the hell did Roy have to run off _now_? He couldn't have waited a few more minutes to hear this?

"By the time we all zeta'd up, the Manhunters must've gotten too far beyond the range of our scanners, because we couldn't pick up _any_ spacecraft in the area. Batman is trying to recover some of the external camera logs so that we can maybe see what direction they went in at least," Barry said regretfully. He rested both arms on his knees and tried to meet his nephew's eyes.

"They broke Dad out the night before he was supposed to be moved…"

Barry's eyes widened in surprise, and he looked abruptly taken off guard. Apparently, he hadn't considered that.

"There's no way that was a coincidence! They had to have known that!" Wally looked up then, his eyes burning. Barry looked disturbed by the possibility. " _Someone_ told them."

"Wally…" Dick touched his best friend's shoulder, alarmed, but Wally shook him off and shot to his feet. Barry rose as well, taking a half step back.

"And what the hell does my dad have to do with _Manhunters_?! How would he even know how to _contact_ one?" Wally waved his arms around, gesturing wildly. "And what do a bunch of evil robots want with _him_ anyway? He's a nobody!"

"We don't know any of that yet," Barry grabbed Wally's shoulders to hold him still and hopefully calm him down. "But we're trying to find out. All three of our Green Lanterns are on this: Hal and John Stewart are contacting the Corps as we speak to let them know what's going on, and Guy Gardner left for Oa already. He's going to try and find out more about the Manhunters and why they're here, and Batman is going to start looking into your father's past as soon as he has the Watchtower back online."

"So, what are _we_ going to do?" Wally asked angrily.

" _I'm_ going to help everyone in any way that I can, and _you_ are going to focus on recovering," Barry said firmly.

"I meant what is the Team going to be doing to help – the League's covert team that I'm on?" Wally looked almost defiant.

"Batman will find something for them to do," Barry's understanding attitude turned stern. "As for _you_ , you're not anywhere _close_ to combat ready. You're staying out of this."

"Are you joking?!" Wally exclaimed. "This is serious! I can help."

"It is _very_ serious," Barry agreed. "Your dad is loose and with some very powerful enemies. And he knows all of our identities – you, me, Jay. It's not safe for you to be Kid Flash again until we know how many people your father's told, if any."

"It's not safe for _you_ to be out either!" Wally argued vehemently.

"That's a risk that I chose to take when I told my family who I was," Barry said very evenly. "I knew that this might happen one day, and I'm prepared for it. So is Jay."

"So are _all_ of the heroes!" Wally clearly wasn't about to give in. "Including me. I knew it was dangerous when I signed up."

"Yes, but there's a difference between fighting at full strength and trying to fight when you're still heavily injured," Barry didn't relent. "You'll need at least two more weeks to re-condition yourself for combat, and even then I know I won't be happy with your muscle tone. You can barely keep any weight on as it is, and you haven't used your superspeed in over a month."

Wally opened his mouth again to speak, but Jay beat him to it, "Barry is still your mentor, son. And he's your legal guardian now too; you need to listen to him. He wouldn't keep you benched if it wasn't what was best for you."

"I know that," Wally said tiredly, visibly shaking. "But I need to help with this. He's _my_ dad. Out of everyone, _I_ should be involved."

"We don't even know how much your dad is connected to all this just yet," Iris spoke up from the side.

Barry looked at her for a long moment, nodding, before fixing Wally with a heavy stare, "Look, I get it. If I were in your shoes, I'd want to be right in the middle of it all too. But this is just _not_ the right time; you're not healthy enough yet. We almost lost you not too long ago, and I'm not very keen on that happening again. So, until you're one hundred percent again, you're off duty. That's my final word on the matter."

Wally looked like he'd just been handed down a death sentence. Dick's heart twisted unpleasantly at the devastated expression on Wally's face, and he would've given anything to change it.

"I'm sorry, Kid," Barry truly looked regretful. He gripped Wally's shoulder bracingly. "You know that there's no one else I'd rather have as my partner."

"Yeah…" Wally said dejectedly. Dick could see him closing up again. He looked around frantically at the various faces in the room and was dismayed to see that none of them seemed to notice. Wally was losing it internally, but he'd buried it so quickly that no one could tell. And he was going to keep suppressing it until he cracked.

Dick was beside his friend in an instant, taking his arm, "You look really tired."

It was a lie – Wally looked way too agitated to be physically tired, but he was clearly at a mental breaking point. And his family didn't seem to know how to handle it. They kept making decisions that were essentially caging him, whether they realized it or not, and it was only making him feel trapped. Dick needed to get Wally out of there fast.

"This is a lot to take in all at once," Barry's tone softened. "Why don't you try and get some sleep while you can."

"Take whatever room you want, sweetheart," Joan said soothingly, getting up to give Wally a quick hug. "I promise that I'll make sure you stay updated."

Wally just stood there for a few moments, looking around at his family again like he was dissatisfied with everything that had just happened and didn't want to leave. Dick, however, knew exactly what he needed. He pulled on Wally's arm forcefully to get his attention. Once he had it, Dick gave Wally a meaningful look, trying to convey a wordless message without tipping off the adults. Wally stared at him blankly for a few seconds, and then seemed to get it. He let Dick lead him out of the kitchen and into the laundry room at the other end of the house beside the back door.

"I _have_ to get out of here," Wally said as soon as they were out of earshot. He knotted his fingers in his bright red hair and shut his eyes tightly. His whole body was trembling uncontrollably. "I- I _need_ to run. _Now_."

"I know," Dick tried to speak as calmly and reassuringly as he could. Wally's family clearly loved him, but they didn't have any idea how to find the balance between keeping him safe and letting him still use his powers. When Wally had his accident, he didn't just gain the ability to run at superspeed – it was written into his DNA, his thought processes were altered. His speed was an integral part of him now, as important as any vital organ or any of his senses.

Dick grasped the back door's handle and turned it very carefully, trying not to make a sound. Five years training under Bruce made the task easy as pie. He cracked the door open without so much as a click and shot a devious grin over his shoulder at Wally, "That's why we're gonna go take a little jog around the neighborhood."

Wally eyed him suspiciously and didn't budge from his spot.

Dick sighed, cocking an eyebrow at his best friend. Wally didn't believe him.

"Come on, before Flash 1 and Flash 2 decide to come and check on you," Dick held the door open invitingly. Wally zipped out, and he carefully closed the door behind them both.

"I don't understand," Wally said in confusion. Dick took his hand and pulled him around to the side of the house. He scanned the area left and right beyond the tall privacy fence that the Garrick's had around the perimeter of their yard.

"You said it yourself: you need to run."

"Yeah, but…" Wally raised an eyebrow at him and glanced over his shoulder. "Shouldn't you be telling me to stay put and that it's too dangerous to be running off by myself?"

"You won't _be_ by yourself," Dick put his hands on his hips, resting his fingers against the utility belt concealed beneath his hoodie. "I'm coming with you."

"Dick… You can't run at superspeed…" Wally said slowly, still not comprehending Dick's plan.

He shrugged like it wasn't a problem, "You've carried me on your back before."

"You're serious." Wally's eyes widened suddenly, and he looked at Dick intently like he was trying to figure out if he was pretending or not.

"Yeah," he grinned. "It'll accomplish a few things all at once – you'll get to run, you won't be alone, carrying me will help you build back those muscles, and my extra weight will stop you from running so fast that you strain yourself."

"Your extra weight won't be the thing that slows me down," Wally said sincerely. "It'll be the fact that if I make a mistake, the particles in the air will rip through you like bullets."

Dick looked to the side then, thinking hard about what he just said, "How come they don't do that to you and Flash?"

Wally shrugged, "Speedster mystery. We have a lot of those. Are you really serious about this?"

"Let's just go before we get caught," Dick jerked his head towards the house. Wally immediately seemed both relieved and excited at the same time. He turned around and crouched down halfway, holding his arms out to the sides a little, and Dick carefully jumped onto his back.

It was a little more awkward now that Dick had grown so much taller in his last growth spurt, but they used to run around like this all the time when they were younger, so it didn't take much adjusting. Dick hooked one arm across Wally's collarbone and slid the other underneath his right shoulder. Wally gripped both his legs beneath the knees and straightened up with a little effort. Dick forcefully shoved his feelings back and locked them up before they could get out of control again. There was no way he would be thinking about Wally like _that_ while they were in a position like _this_.

"So, around the neighborhood, huh?" Wally flexed his back tentatively and tested their combined weight by bending his knees. "What's your idea of 'the neighborhood'?"

"Me? The whole city of Gotham. But, since you're the one running, we should go with your idea, don't you think?" Dick leaned over his friend's shoulder to speak. "What's a neighborhood for you speedsters, anyways – a few counties?"

"Pfft. More like a few states."

"States, huh? You know, I've been wanting to go to the beach lately…"

Wally squeezed Dick's legs gratefully and hunched over a little in a runner's stance, "Hang on tight. I'm gonna try starting off at five hundred miles per hour. I don't want to risk making a sonic boom this close to Uncle Barry and Jay."

Dick gripped Wally tighter and tried to remember if he'd ever gone that fast before with the speedster. Probably not. He took a deep breath and nodded, "Got it."

"Then once we're clear, I'm going to bump it up to eight hundred if I can. I don't want to run out of fuel if I can help it," Wally rolled his shoulders eagerly. "Oh, and you might want to close your eyes. You might get dizzy."

"Just go before we get caught," Dick tried to hunker down against the back of Wally's neck. "I'm sure they'll suspect something. I only broke you out of the Watchtower's med bay thirteen times when you were still there."

"You got it."

And then they were off.

Immediately, Dick felt the unpleasant backwards slide of his insides, and the sunglasses were ripped from his face. His limbs locked around Wally's body like vices in his sudden terror. He'd _definitely_ never gone this fast before. The wind rushed past him violently as Wally cut through the air like a supersonic knife. Dick tried to close his eyes – he didn't know why he hadn't done it before – but the gusts of wind forced his eyelids back open again, and he watched as the familiar shapes of trees, houses, roads, and cars all blurred together into long lines of color that shot by him like missiles.

Dick's heart pounded madly in his chest, and he struggled not to hyperventilate as Wally zoomed along in God only knew what direction. He eventually managed to push his head behind Wally's for a little bit of shelter and tried to force his brain to keep up with the speed that it was trying to process. It was nearly impossible. If Wally's brain wasn't also able to work at superspeed, Dick didn't know how he would be able to navigate through the various obstacles at this velocity without crashing into something. He tried to blink away the tears that the stinging wind was causing and prayed that Wally stopped soon.

That was when he heard his best friend laugh. Dick stopped his mental floundering and listened. Wally really was laughing. He sounded relieved and peaceful at finally being able to stretch his legs. A smile spread across Dick's face at seeing his friend so happy after so long, and he tried to open himself up to it too. The speed they were traveling was terrifying, yes, and Dick would be more concerned if it were anyone else 'at the wheel', but Wally looked perfectly at ease and in control going this fast. Dick tried to take as many deep breaths as his lungs allowed him to and attempted to enjoy himself.

Turns out, it was only hard for a few moments. Before Dick knew it, an exhilarated laugh was tearing free from his throat, and his heart was racing from adrenaline instead of fear.

Wally heard the laugh and turned his head to look back, meeting Dick's impossibly huge grin with one of his own. He shouted over the roaring wind to be heard, " _This is easier than I expected! Want to go faster?_ "

" _Yeah!_ " Dick yelled back, but he could hardly hear his own voice. Wally seemed to have gotten the message anyway.

" _Try not to keep your mouth open! You don't want to swallow a bug, trust me!"_

Mindful of the warning, Dick tried not to laugh as Wally kicked it up a few hundred miles per hour. The vertigo passed almost instantly after that and was replaced with pure euphoria as the two of them tore down the countryside.

Dick didn't know how long they ran, or even where they were going through. He was only conscious of a difference when Wally began gradually slowing down. The solid walls of color streaks started to form actual _things_ again, and Dick could faintly hear the high-pitched shrieks of gulls and the rush of water in the distance. Five seconds later, Wally came to a skidding halt, and the momentum smashed Dick against his back.

"Last stop!" Wally cried triumphantly. "Galveston, Texas!"

Dick still clung to Wally like a barnacle, fighting down his nausea desperately while the whole run caught up to him. He shut his eyes and rested his forehead on Wally's shoulder, groaning miserably.

"You alright?" Wally asked with a laugh. Dick nodded wordlessly, too proud to complain. "You want me to let you down?"

"Yep. I'm ready."

Wally carefully released his legs and bent down. The second Dick's feet touched the ground and he dared to put weight on them, he fell over.

"You said you were ready, you liar!" Wally protested from somewhere above him.

Dick ignored him and crossed both arms over his eyes to calm the swirling in his head. The ground he'd landed on was firm, but not hard at all. It felt like sand, but he didn't want to open his eyes to check. He just tried to lie still and will the world to stop spinning.

He heard a plop in the sand beside him, and then: "That bad, huh? I'm sorry."

"No, no! It was great!" Dick insisted. He forced himself to sit upright, and that's when he actually took in his surroundings. Wally had brought them to a beach alright. He'd run them underneath a pier where no one would see them. Dick watched the water crash into the pillars several feet out and felt the cold from the sand seeping into his clothes. "Until we stopped… How fast were we going?"

He heard the ocean beside them and traffic honking in the distance but not Wally's voice.

Dick looked over at him questioningly, "Wally?"

The redhead was looking down at his own hands in confusion, "I got us here in eighteen minutes…"

For a second, Dick didn't understand what was wrong until he remembered Wally's birthday when he'd had to run a heart from Boston to Seattle in just under four hours. He drew up a mental map of the US and figured up the distance they'd just gone. Then, his eyes widened in surprise, "There's no way! In November it took you like three and a half hours to run from coast to coast. And you barely ate half a cinnamon roll this morning!"

"I don't really feel hungry either," Wally looked just as startled.

"I told you not to push yourself!"

"I didn't, I swear! I just went with what felt like normal effort, and all of a sudden we were here!"

"So, you're just suddenly five times faster than you were before?" Dick asked incredulously. "And you're still recovering from the worse shape I've ever seen you in."

Wally looked scared suddenly. He turned to Dick with huge eyes, and his face drained of all color, "You don't think… _dying_ did something to me, do you?"

"Well, _something_ made you faster," Dick mused. "Do you feel like anything's wrong?"

"Nah, I feel great," Wally shook his head, absently checking over his hands and torso like he expected something to be missing. "Normally, I'd be starving just a third of the way through a run like that."

They were both silent for a few minutes as they took everything in. Dick was finally beginning to feel normal again, so he focused his mind on trying to figure out why Wally's speed had increased so much in such a short amount of time. He could only identify two likely causes. If it was a physical catalyst, maybe all of the electrical shocks that his uncle had delivered straight to his heart when he'd been trying to save him had done it. If the change was mental in origin, perhaps the reasons behind Wally's slower speed all these years were just psychosomatic, and it had taken something as traumatic as dying to unlock his full potential. It was possible – Dick had heard of people losing the ability to walk before and it turned out that it was all in their heads.

"What do you think we should do now?" Wally asked worriedly.

"We should zeta home," He said without hesitation, _and_ without thinking.

It took less than a second for Wally to process what he'd said and start to close up, "Dick, don't do that to me, _please_. Don't tell me I can't run. If you're not in my corner on this, I can't-"

"Whoa! Calm down! That's not what I meant," Dick held out his arms peaceably. "I was saying that we should use the zeta beams to get to Keystone _today_. Just to be safe. You don't want to push it with two runs like that in case there are side effects that haven't shown up yet. I'm not telling you not to run ever again."

Wally stared at him sadly and flopped over onto his back in the sand, "Sorry… I just- Everyone's trying to restrict me, and… once they find out about _this_ it's going to get even worse."

Dick lay down beside him and stared up at the pier above them, "Then let's not tell them."

"What?" Wally looked over at him in confusion.

"If we tell anyone about this, they're just going to keep you in the Watchtower or some S.T.A.R. labs facility and run test after test on you until they know why you're faster. And _we_ both know that's only going to make you worse," Dick reasoned, thinking about Wally's fragile state of mind. "I say we keep this between the two of us and make up our own tests on our own terms and _then_ go to our mentors with what we found. You know, providing there aren't any terrible side effects like you dying or something. What do you think?"

Wally seemed to relax significantly, "That sounds a lot better."

Dick bumped shoulders with him playfully and grinned, "You should know that I'm always on your side."

Wally smiled back, looking relieved but completely worn out, "Why the heck are you so perfect?"

And that sent his heart racing faster than any run at superspeed.


	6. Chapter 6

[The Watchtower

March 18, 15:30 EST]

Roy walked out of the League-wide emergency meeting with mixed feelings.

It wasn't as if he hadn't lived through a doomsday event before. He was only eighteen, and he could remember at least two times that the Earth had been threatened. The first time, Roy was nine; that was when the white Martians had tried to invade. It was also the first time that all seven founders of the Justice League worked together at the same time. They didn't form the JLA until two years later and didn't go public with the alliance until several years after that.

Roy didn't remember that first invasion very well. He'd still been living on the Navajo reservation then with his original adoptive father, Brave Bow. At the time, it had seemed more heinous to him that he'd missed three days of archery practice than the fact that he could've died.

The second threat to the planet had come two years after that when the Appellaxians made Earth their staging ground for a no holds barred contest to see who would be the leader of their home planet. Roy was eleven then and actually remembered watching Wonder Woman and Aquaman fight on television. That was still long before he'd ever met Oliver.

So, yeah, this wasn't his first rodeo.

True, it _was_ the first time that he'd be able to actively participate in defending the planet as a hero. And it was the first time that there was a threat of this magnitude. While Roy had followed the briefing about Manhunters very easily, he still found it difficult to fathom the kind of numbers involved. It was one thing to be faced with the destruction of one planet but another entirely to think about a whole sector in peril and another 3,599 sectors at risk if the Manhunters weren't stopped _here_. He wasn't stupid; he knew that not every planet housed intelligent life, but the stakes were still too high to seem very real.

It hadn't even been confirmed yet that the Manhunters were planning an encore performance of Sector 666, but Roy knew that they sure as hell didn't show up just to bust Wally's dirtbag father out of prison. The whole thing was still being debated amongst the Leaguers as to what Rudy West was doing with the Manhunters. Roy hadn't needed to think very hard to come to his own conclusion: Wally's father was a pathetic, disgusting excuse for a man and was one hundred percent in league with the Manhunters. He'd seen the smug little grin on his face in the attack footage. The only thing Roy didn't understand was why West was important enough to rescue.

So, things looked pretty grim. Roy had a healthy respect for how bad this _could_ turn out, but he just wasn't as scared as he probably should be. He just couldn't see the Justice League and the Green Lantern Corps losing this fight. Hal had spoken through a good majority of the meeting, and he'd announced that the arrangements were set: Oa was sending _everyone_. Apparently, the Guardians weren't eager to have their biggest mistake repeated a second time. He'd also heard that the Martian Manhunter was traveling to Mars to warn his home world of the impending danger and to try and forge an alliance between the sister planets.

And if they could get other planets in the sector in on it, they'd have a lot of firepower. The only problem was, they had no idea what kind of force the Manhunters had on their side. They'd had an untold number of years to find ways to build their strength back up and possibly their numbers as well. The Justice League could be looking at an invading army that would be impossible to defeat.

Yet, Roy still wasn't all that worried about losing. As dire as the whole situation seemed, Roy just didn't think that they were going to lose the whole _planet_.

He was more worried about his little brothers. If this ended in a fight, it was going to get nasty. Roy could wind up on the winning side but still lose everyone he'd ever cared about. Dick was amazingly skilled and capable for a fourteen-year-old. There was no question that he had been trained by the best, but he was still only fourteen-years-old. Wally was a completely different story entirely. He was only just recently healed from injuries that had _killed_ him, he was severely traumatized – whether he wanted to show it or not – by what happened, and he might be a specified target for the Manhunters. Roy had no idea how he would be able to help defend the planet _and_ keep an eye on his brothers at the same time.

He slid one hand along the cropped hair at the back of his head anxiously and took a deep breath before knocking quietly on the door to Dinah's hospital room and walking in. Dinah was sleeping again – Doctor Light had her on a lot of pain medication. Her head was tightly wrapped in bandages on one side, but aside from that, her face was largely untouched. However, the rest of her body was heavily burned. Dinah's chest, legs, and arms were covered in loose gauze that concealed the extensive blisters and damaged flesh underneath.

Oliver was there again. He looked up from his girlfriend's bedside at the sound of knocking and relaxed in his chair. Roy took the seat beside him, finding that he absolutely _hated_ the Watchtower's med bay now. He hooked one long leg over the other and folded his arms over his chest with a sigh.

"How was the war room?" Oliver had flat out refused to leave Dinah's side until she was out of surgery, so he'd been absent from the most recent meeting.

"We received our plan of attack," Roy spoke offhandedly.

"And?"

"The plan is to _wait_ until we have more information," he said bitterly, letting his head fall back.

Oliver nodded, absently running his thumbs along Dinah's hand, "I hate large-scale invasions like this. I've always been more about helping the little guy. Plus, I'm not really equipped to fight intergalactic space robots."

"I don't know…" Roy mused suddenly, "It'll be a good chance to vent some rage. They're not really alive, so we won't have to hold back. We'll be able to go for kill shots."

"True," Oliver yawned into his fist. Roy wondered how long he'd been up here. "A lot of the big guns in the League will be happy. Have you ever seen Superman really cut loose? It's pretty terrifying."

"Sounds like most of the heavy fighting's going to be left up to the aliens and metas," Roy idly examined Dinah's feet through the sterile wrappings. She had big feet… It was hard to tell from the combat boots she usually wore in costume.

"We'll get our chance, don't worry," Oliver clapped Roy on the shoulder, dragging the redhead out of his odd musings.

He contemplated shrugging the hand off but then remembered his pledge to fix things with Ollie, "You know… this could be a good opportunity to design some new arrows."

Oliver perked up a bit at that, and he finally tore his eyes from Dinah's face, "You mean like we used to when you were younger?"

Ugh. Roy knew where this was going already. "Yes, but this time-"

"Do you remember the boxing glove arrow?"

He rolled his eyes and turned his head to look at the door, feeling the irritation already beginning to build, "Yeah…"

Oliver's mustache twitched a little as he smiled brightly, "I still made it for you even though I didn't think it would work. But you know, for not being very aerodynamically sound _or_ well-balanced, that boxing glove flew _really_ well… Oh, do you remember the pepper spray arrow you came up with after that? I still use that one."

"I was thinking more along the lines of making arrows specifically for the Manhunters," Roy tried to keep his tone below a yell. "Heavy explosives, EMPS, metal corroding acids; that sort of thing. And there's always the nanotech fog that Dr. Roquette invented."

Oliver was silent as he really thought about it. His smile grew more mischievous by the second, and he held out a hand to Roy, "I think we're going to be busy for the next few days."

Roy took the offered hand and shook it firmly, "Good, cause I've got about ten thousand arrows at your place that need tricking out."

Dinah grimaced in her sleep and thrashed around restlessly. Oliver reached out and took her hand again. He touched her shoulder and carefully shook her awake, "It's alright, pretty bird. You're fine."

She opened her eyes briefly to look at the both of them in confusion, and then relaxed once she realized who was there. She was unconscious again in seconds.

Roy frowned at her in concern, "How's she doing?"

"Better," Oliver looked angry now. He'd been pretty withdrawn about his girl getting hurt so badly before, and Roy understood. Neither of them were used to worrying about Dinah. She was Black Canary, and she _always_ gave more than she got in a fight. She wasn't usually injured like this. Roy wouldn't want to be the Manhunter group that did this to her when Ollie found them. "They put her arm back into its socket no problem and were able to treat most of her burns just fine. Doctor Light said that only a couple of them are going to scar. It's her head that was hurt the worst. She had a pretty bad skull fracture."

"Is she going to be alright?"

"Oh yeah," Oliver half smiled at Dinah as she slept. "Surgery fixed her right up. She might have migraines for awhile, but my girl's tough as titanium. I bet you she'll be up and fighting again in a few days."

Roy was startled to realize that he was giving her the same adoring look that Dick had been giving Wally while he slept a couple days ago at the Allen's house. He sat back in his chair and stared into the opposite wall silently while he thought about that.

It was weird. Definitely. And Roy was probably the least emotionally equipped person to deal with the fact that one of his two younger brothers seemed to be crushing _very_ hard on the other. He knew that Dick and Wally were best friends – he'd known that since day one. They were inseparable. What he _didn't_ know was how _Wally_ felt about Dick. Roy would be completely fine with it if they suddenly started dating. He didn't really care either way, but he wasn't sure if Wally could even tell how Dick felt. He wasn't sure how Wally would react to finding that out. He might be indifferent, or excited, or upset.

Roy really didn't know what to do if that was the case, especially not right now with this extinction looming over their heads. It would have to wait until later.

He just hoped that Dick didn't come to him for advice.

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[Gotham City

March 19, 20:00 EST]

Dick briefly wondered if he should ask Roy for some advice about Wally. So far, the redheaded archer – and maybe Joan Garrick – was the only one who had caught him. But then again, Roy _was_ 'secretly' courting a supervillain, so maybe he wouldn't…

Artemis would be furious when she found out that Roy and Cheshire were hooking up.

Dick snickered to himself suddenly. Heh heh. Roy would be furious when he found out that Artemis and Cheshire were _sisters_.

He strode into Bruce's study and right up to the massive grandfather clock set between the bookshelves. Dick set the hands to 10:47 and stepped back as a soft click sounded from behind the clock. It swung open to reveal a long, winding staircase carved into the limestone. He stepped into the secret passageway, pulling the clock back into position behind him, and continued on down the dark steps. Thin, glowing lights lined the base of the rough cave walls, but Dick hardly needed them to know where he was going. He'd been using this passageway since he was nine. The stairs led straight to the Batcave.

Dick heard the distant soothing rush of the cave's many waterfalls and the high-pitched keening of thousands of bats above him before he'd even gotten to the bottom of the staircase.

The first thing he saw – as always – when he stepped out into the cave was the Batmobile on its turntable. You couldn't quite help it, no matter how many times you saw the sleek, black vehicle. It was like the thing was a magnet drawing your eyes directly to it.

This was a little funny, because Bruce had designed it for stealth.

Dick passed the vault that housed his and Bruce's uniforms without a second glance. There wouldn't be any need for them tonight. Bruce had, for once, put crime in Gotham on the backburner in order to pour all his time and resources into researching Wally's father. He was currently their _only_ lead to finding out why the Manhunters were here on Earth.

He went right up to one of the pipe elevators that had been installed into the caves and poked his head around to scan the lab. He was always checking to see if Bruce was working on any experiments or running fingerprints and DNA for a case. Predictably, all of the lab equipment was off and quiet tonight.

The elevator took him to the next level down and opened to a brightly lit trophy room that would make Wally jealous. Dick glanced around the pipe to the darkened workshop behind him just to be sure that Bruce wasn't holed up in there. He walked slowly through the small forest of glass display cases and dragged his fingertips over the one holding Two-Face's coin.

Many of the trophies were from before his time as Robin. The life size mechanical T-Rex loomed over him as he meandered along, and the Penny Plunderer's giant penny cast a long oval shadow across many of the cases. He smiled a little, definitely remembering those two particular adventures. Dick examined the one holding the vampiric monk's red hood and another displaying one of the Joker's cards. And then there was the longest case towards the very end of the trophy 'room'. It held Deathstroke's sword.

Dick knew the stories behind every trophy except for that one. At some point or another during his first years living at the manor, either Alfred or Bruce would regale him with elaborate retellings of all of Batman's most fantastic exploits, but they would never say a word about how Bruce had gotten Deathstroke's sword. He'd known from the very first refusal to his request for the story behind it that he'd better not ask a second time. Something terrible was associated with that sword, and Dick had a feeling that Bruce didn't keep it around for bragging rights. It was kept slightly apart from the others and placed so that it was impossible to get to the other parts of the cave without passing it. Like a reminder.

Dick sidestepped the sword, like he always did, and ventured further into the cave system. He could hear the dull thrum of the hydrogen generator that powered the cave, and just beyond that, the clicking of a computer keyboard.

Bruce was seated in front of the massive supercomputer, typing away methodically. He didn't look up when Dick came to stand behind him, but he had to know he was there. No matter how stealthy Dick was or how hard he practiced, Bruce always knew when he was there.

So, instead of announcing himself right away, Dick looked up at the three large monitors that slightly curved inwards towards the wraparound console. Each screen held multiple windows displaying the entirety of the West and Allen families. Dick's eyes wandered over search results and profiles, skimming over every line as he speed read until his gaze trailed across Rudy West's face.

He felt his eyes narrow into a glare and his face twitch involuntarily into a grimace. It looked like Bruce had already compiled a detailed profile for him. Dick started at the top and worked his way down, taking in every scrap of information in front of him.

Full name: Robert Rudolph West

Date of birth: September 7, 1970

Parents: Ira and Nadine West

Siblings: Charlotte Nadine West – age 43; Iris Ann Allen – age 29

Eye color: Brown

Hair color: Brown

Height: 5' 10''

Weight: 200 lbs

Place of birth: Blue Valley, Nebraska

Spouse: Mary West (deceased) – age 38

Children: Wallace Rudolph West – age 16

The list went on and on with a separate window for each name listed. Dick saw photographs and documents recording Wally's grandfather receiving the Nobel Prize. Ira West appeared to be a brilliant physicist and quite famous around the world. At least Dick knew where Wally got his brains from now. He saw several old newspaper scans showing high school football scores and a few yearbook pages with Wally's father as a teenager. Iris' birth certificate and… adoption records?... had their own monitor entirely. Okay, so that was news to him. Wally and his aunt looked so similar. He would have never guessed that she was adopted and that they weren't blood related at all.

Dick noticed that several parts of her birth certificate had been highlighted by Bruce, and each bit of information had at least twenty web browsers devoted to it. It was almost as if Bruce had found something wrong about the document and had torn it apart looking for discrepancies. _That_ was a little odd.

Several windows chronicled Charlotte West's marriage to Edgar Rhodes, the birth of her daughter Inez, and then her divorce. Another three windows listed every detention, suspension, and write up for fighting that Wally's father had ever gotten from second grade to twelfth. Apparently, he'd been quite the bully in school. Also listed was every job he'd ever had _or_ applied for. Dick didn't have any idea how Bruce had gotten hold of _rejected_ applications. What had he done – time traveled back twenty years and gone dumpster diving through restaurants' trash? He must really be determined to hunt down every scrap of Rudy West's life and analyze it.

The typing finally ceased.

"Alfred said that you wanted to see me," Dick moved to a section of the console not being used and leaned against it.

Bruce had never been one to mince words. The typing picked up again, and Bruce's blue eyes didn't so much as flicker away from the monitors, "How was Texas?"

Dick's heartbeat tripped all over itself in surprise. He thought they'd gotten away with that… It had been a few days, and no one had called him or Wally out on it yet. Dick sighed soundlessly and chewed the inside of his cheek in defeat. Honestly, he should've known better. Of course Bruce would track him. Although he'd never been able to find it before, Dick knew that there was a GPS chip hidden somewhere in his utility belt.

"Colder than I thought it would be," he joked weakly.

Bruce's head turned to look at him for a second before his eyes followed. It was eerie. His expression was one of extreme disappointment, and his tone was even worse, "You know that we're standing blind in the face of a possible invasion that could happen at any second. You also know that Kid Flash's father, a deranged man whom we now know has the resources and the motivation to kill his own son, is free. We have no clues as to where he is."

Dick dropped his gaze in shame and braced himself.

"And you and Wally decide to run off halfway across the country by yourselves without telling anyone where you were going or even that you were leaving in the first place."

"You don't understand," Dick tried to explain himself. "The Flash was putting so many restrictions on him that Wally was suffocating. I could tell he was going to bolt whether I went with him or not. I just figured that it would be better if I-"

"Went with him so that he wouldn't be alone if anything happened?" Bruce interrupted him impassively, his stare heavy and unwavering. He gave away no hint of his feelings on that statement.

Dick squirmed under the weight of it. If there was anyone who could sweep his confidence out from beneath himself, it was Bruce. "Exactly…"

"Instead of informing the Flash of his nephew's distress?" Bruce asked. "Who could have easily caught up to him in seconds and dragged him back if necessary."

Dick felt the accusation in his adoptive father's words and flinched. But instead of conceding and admitting fault, he attempted to justify his actions, "That wouldn't have done anything but make Wally worse! He _needed_ to run. You know how speedsters are."

"His uncle would have been more than sufficient to fulfill those needs."

"Wally's family can't see what's going on with him!" Dick insisted. "They're so concerned with keeping him safe that they can't see his state of mind dissolving. And he's so good at hiding it that no one will ever know how bad he is until it's too late!"

Bruce was silent for a few heartbeats as he listened, all the while continuing to stare straight into his protégé without giving anything away. He leaned forward in his chair and rested his arms on his knees, "You think that you know better than his family and that they can't help him as well as you can. Is that right?"

Dick was just stubborn enough to say 'yes'.

His mentor nodded slowly, "What would you have done if Wally's father had a tracker planted on him and he sent Manhunters after you?"

"We would have fought them," Dick said impulsively even though he knew he was wrong.

"They almost _killed_ Black Canary," Bruce said evenly. "Even Wonder Woman was no match for them."

He paused to allow Dick the opportunity to speak again in his own defense, but the young hero passed on it.

"If even _five_ Manhunters had come for you, you both would have been overpowered. Kid Flash is currently at a fraction of his normal health, and you would have been too consumed with trying to protect him to fight effectively," Bruce's voice had reached the border between stoic and angry. He seemed to realize this and took a moment to recompose himself. Dick had his arms crossed almost painfully tight over his chest as a kind of barrier to shield himself from his mentor's disapproval, and his ears were beginning to burn.

"Dick," Bruce's voice was softer now, and he motioned for his partner to come closer. Dick obediently slid down the console until he was standing beside him. "I know that you only want to help your friend, but this is _not_ the way to do it. You need to remember that you are not the only one who cares about him. His aunt and uncle are doing what they believe to be best for his recovery, and you need to respect that. Do you understand?"

Now Dick felt bad, "Yes, but what if they're wrong and they don't realize it?"

"The only thing I recall the Flash doing is pulling his nephew from the Team's active duty roster until he's ready to return and banning him from patrol until he's healed," Bruce spoke logically; his voice was well controlled again. "Those are both the same calls that I would have made if I were in his situation."

"Flash is too busy thinking about keeping Wally safe physically and away from his dad," Dick stated his thoughts slowly to get them across correctly and regrouped mentally to attempt a different tactic. "He's basically cutting Wally off from the Team entirely without realizing what that will do to him."

"He's keeping Wally off the Team because he's not yet ready to return. He'd never be able to keep up right now, and he'd be a weakness that would endanger everyone."

"I do understand that," Dick nodded, seeing that he had Bruce's full attention and that his mentor was actually listening to him. He wasn't about to waste this chance. "But, Wally's already lost so much. I thought that the best thing to do for him would be to keep things as normal as possible. And I get that there's no way he should be allowed to go on missions with the rest of us just yet, but don't you think that it would be more helpful to his recovery if he was still able to interact with the Team in some way?"

Bruce watched him silently for a few minutes, and Dick could tell that he was thinking about what he'd said. He held his breath as his mentor weighed the options carefully before finally responding, "I will speak to Flash about this. He's been looking for safe houses for his family since their identities have been compromised. It's no longer safe for them to stay at their home in Central or even with the Garricks in Keystone. The cave at Mount Justice is probably the safest place for Kid Flash to stay long term. I think you're right; close proximity to his teammates will help him more than staying cut off."

Dick's whole face broke out into a huge, relieved grin, "Thank you!"

Bruce's thoughtful frown relaxed into a small smile as well, and he placed one hand on Dick's shoulder proudly, "See what you can accomplish if you take the time to think of a solution to your problem instead of acting rashly? You did more for Wally just now than you did helping him sneak out and recklessly endanger himself by running off alone."

Dick wasn't entirely convinced of that, but he nodded in agreement. It had seemed like the best thing to do at the time, but he supposed that he and Wally _did_ sometimes think that they could handle things better without adults. That idea...probably needed evaluated a little bit.

"Have you found out anything about Wally's dad?" Dick asked to change the subject. He was relieved to have helped Wally even a little, but he was also glad that he and Bruce were okay. Dick hated being at odds with his adoptive father. It didn't happen often, but when it did, it took its toll. "Anything odd?"

"Personality fluctuations," Bruce replied cryptically. "From what I can gather, Rudy West was a relatively normal child until around age eleven. That's when Iris was adopted into their family as an infant. It's also when I found a sharp decline in his grades, a rise in disciplinary reports, and a marked increase in aggression. It's not clear what started it; it could've been any combination of factors: the addition of a new child, the onset of puberty, his own father's indifference towards him. From what I can tell, this behavior continues on all the way until he leaves high school. There were a few years in which he was on a football team, and during that time he did better, but once he was off the team it started again. It seems like he was alright if he had an outlet for his violence but turned to bullying once that was taken away. He displayed no ambition for scholastic pursuits and didn't join any clubs. He didn't even have a job until he was nineteen."

Dick scanned over the profile that Bruce had put together, following along as his mentor spoke. He saw badly scanned photos of a football team, medical reports, and hacked dental and school records. Everything pointed to a violent, unmotivated, and bitter child.

"Then, his life changed drastically after that. All of a sudden, he's taking any job that he can get an application for. After a quick stint at a vocational school, he has a steady job at a power plant. He's living on his own at age twenty, married by age twenty-one, and a father at twenty-four. From what Wally admitted, his father didn't start beating him or Mary until Wally was six. That leaves a few gaps in Rudy West's life where he is _not_ violent," Bruce leaned back in his chair and rested his mouth on his fist. He glared at his research displayed on the monitors, eyes roving over every word and picture as if any one thing would be what he was looking for – as if he hadn't been pouring over all his notes nonstop. "So, something significant seems to happen at age eleven when the violent behavior starts, age nineteen when he has a sudden drive to get his life together and there isn't so much as a single police report on him, and age thirty when his aggression returns, and he takes it out on his wife and child. I need to find out what the catalysts are for these shifts in temperament."

"How are you planning on doing that?" Dick asked.

"J'onn probed West's mind when we still had him detained. At the time, we didn't know anything about the Manhunters, so he wouldn't have been looking for them in his memories; he was looking for proof of the abuse. But he might have stumbled across something accidentally that can help us," Bruce glanced at the watch on his wrist. "I asked J'onn over a few hours ago, but he's still on Mars trying to convince the planet to ally itself with us. It'll take him awhile to get back to me. In the meantime, I have questions for Iris Allen."

Dick's eyes flickered over to the monitor displaying Iris' own dissected life, and his eyebrows pulled together, "Is it about _this_?"

Bruce too looked at the monitor, and his face set into a deep frown, "No. I just want her to answer some questions about those three points in her brother's life. If they were close, she'll be my best source of information."

"Why all the attention spent on her birth certificate?"

Bruce tapped some keys on the console, and all of the windows minimized in the blink of an eye, "Some things didn't add up about it. I wanted to be thorough."

"Things like what?" Dick pushed curiously. He knew that sometimes with adoptions, records could very easily be lost.

"The hospital where she was born," Bruce waved it off like it was minor, which instantly raised Dick's suspicions. "The date, her birth parents names. Small details."

Batman and Robin had been partners for a long time now, and there were certain things that they just knew about each other. Their teamwork was so flawless that they hardly needed to speak to each other in battle. They knew each other's tells and methods as well as their own, which was how Dick knew that Bruce was being purposefully evasive.

He let it drop for the moment.

But he fully intended on coming back down here and hacking into the records as soon as Bruce was asleep.

"What can the Team do?" Dick asked restlessly. He'd only just gotten back from Keystone City half a day ago and already he was feeling useless. He needed something constructive to do.

Bruce looked at him out of the corner of his eye and Dick swore that he saw his father's mouth twitch upwards slightly – almost like he was smirking, "The Team can train."

Dick was about to open his mouth to argue when he was silenced by a Batglare.

"An end of the world scenario is _not_ a good enough reason to skip training, in case you were getting ready to say that it would be pointless," Bruce returned to the monitors, waving Dick away from the console absently. "The Team is still on suspension for another week, and the Justice League intends to have you all use the time wisely."

"You mean you're going to let us operate without a 'den mother' for once?" Dick blinked at him. Black Canary was out of commission, but even if she wasn't, the Justice League didn't have anyone to spare to babysit them. He'd been hoping, given the need for every able-bodied hero available, that the League would finally recognize their abilities and give the Team a chance.

The sarcasm in his tone hadn't escaped Bruce. He paused in his typing, back still turned to his ward, "No. You'll have a substitute."

That threw him for a loop. "Who?"

This time, Bruce definitely smiled – only, it was the same smile that Gotham's very worst got right before they were staring down the business end of a batarang. "Suffice it to say that Green Lantern arranged for a friend to teach the Team how to combat the Manhunters."

Dick's stomach dropped into his feet at the ominous words.

"You start in two days."


	7. Chapter 7

[Mount Justice

March 21, 16:00 EST]

_"Recognize: Kid Flash – B03"_

Wally heard two things simultaneously. The first was the sound of a Green Lantern's power ring discharging. After spending so much time patrolling with Uncle Barry and Hal Jordan, the unique noise was unmistakable to Wally. However, it usually didn't sound quite so deafening. This was almost a boom.

The second thing he heard was Hal laughing loudly in the background. Wally paused right outside of the zeta tubes and listened curiously. Hal's ring had never sounded like that before. But at the same time, it was vaguely familiar. What was-?

" _Is that all you've got, poozers?!"_

Wally almost jumped out of his skin at the yell that had _definitely_ not come from his surrogate uncle, Hal. The voice was deep, and it echoed throughout the cave thunderously like boulders being rolled down the side of a cliff. Wally's first reaction was dumbfounded surprise which then morphed quickly into excitement.

_"The Justice League told me that their little heroes were impressive, but all I've seen so far today is a bunch of pathetic rookies not even good enough to lick the dirt off my boots!"_

Wally sped off in the direction of the familiar voice and was led straight to Mount Justice's training room. He swung around the corner with a huge smile on his face and almost smacked right into Hal, who was leaning against the wall and failing terribly to control his laughter. Wally skidded to a halt beside him and was about to speak when he heard another loud boom and a muffled chorus of groans. He snapped his mouth shut and spun around in alarm to see his entire team being crushed beneath a massive green ring construct the size of a basketball court.

Artemis, Dick, Zatanna, and M'gann were all being pinned flat against the floor by the sheer weight of the construct. Kaldur was on his hands and knees, eyes shut and teeth gritted with extreme effort as he tried to fight the green platform pressing him into the ground. Conner was faring the best, still only on one knee with his hands and shoulders taking the brunt of the weight. He was actually making progress standing up, both piercing blue eyes fixed furiously on one towering figure standing on the other side of the room.

"Well, well, look here," the rough, thunderous voice taunted once Conner was able to straighten up another two inches despite his wobbling limbs. "This maggot thinks he has what it takes to outmuscle my constructs. Here's a bit of knowledge for you, rookie…"

The multi-layered platform flared a little brighter and dropped down on Kaldur and Conner like stretched elastic snapping back into place. The Atlantean collapsed under the increased burden with a strangled gasp, and Conner was pushed down into an awkward push-up position. He roared furiously at the lost ground and fought to push himself back up, arms shaking like mad.

"I can make my constructs as heavy as I want 'em to be."

Wally watched his friends gasping and crying out in distress and looked over at the massive creature, fully decked out in the green and black uniform of the Green Lantern Corps. He stood at a full eight and a half feet tall and looked to weigh upwards of seven hundred pounds. His arms, legs, neck, and torso were thick with brutish, heavy muscle. The alien creature's skin was a tan pink color and looked to be tougher than an elephant's flesh, only exposed from the wide neckline of his uniform and his head. He wore no mask over his face, which was vaguely porcine in appearance with a massive lower jaw that slightly overlapped the top part of his mouth and a severely upturned nose like a bat's with vertical nostrils. Two short, pointed ears sat atop his hairless head, and a pair of terrifying red and black eyes stared down at his captives. He gave them a dark, toothy grin and threw his head back with a great booming laugh when Conner finally gave in completely.

By all rights, he looked like a humongous, menacing space monster that was currently laying a serious beat down on Wally's entire team, and/or about to eat them. Wally was able to see Dick through the construct, and the younger boy struggled to turn his head and look at him with pleading eyes through his mask.

Wally, dressed in civvies and completely without his Kid Flash uniform – Uncle Barry may or may not have hidden it from him – charged right at the towering creature despite the fact that he was about waist height to it and one of its arms was almost as big around as _he_ was. Wally stopped right in front of it and placed himself between the alien and his friends.

Then, he threw his arms up and out excitedly and let a huge smile stretch across his face, "Kilowog!"

The massive Bolovaxian looked down at him, and an identical grin mirrored his own. Kilowog reached down and swiped Wally up off the ground completely with one arm, crushing him against his chest in an overwhelming bear hug. He ruffled Wally's flaming red hair with a hand that was as big as the speedster's chest and chuckled deeply. Wally didn't try to fight the iron grip, instead choosing to focus on _not_ suffocating against the dark green of Kilowog's uniform. He could hear the telltale sound of Kilowog dismissing his ring construct and was very acutely aware of his teammates' incredulous expressions as every single one of them stared at him in disbelief.

Kilowog eventually released him, and Wally dropped a few feet to the ground, landing a little unsteadily but still grinning like a fool. "I was wondering where you were, poozer. 'Kept waitin' for you to show up and teach these rookies how it's done."

"Maybe later," Wally shrugged and tried to ignore the open-mouthed stares that Artemis and Dick were giving him. "I didn't know you were on Earth already!"

"He was the first Lantern that got here after John and I sent out the S.O.S," Hal walked up to them and reached up to slap Kilowog's arm amicably. Even Hal could barely clear the giant Green Lantern's ribcage. "I figured that it would be easier to convince the League to let the Team here help fight the Manhunters if they had a little training from one of the Corps' best. So, I asked Kilowog if he'd mind helping out a little."

 _"Helping out?!"_ Conner growled suddenly, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "He's been here an hour, and the only thing he's done is throw us around the cave!"

"Are you questioning my methods, you worthless waste of space?" Kilowog rumbled suddenly. Both Hal and Wally winced. He stalked forwards, and the other members of the Team quickly shuffled away from Conner to get out of his path despite their usually strong sense of unity.

Conner stood his ground as the towering Bolovaxian loomed over him menacingly, "Just wondering what makes you so qualified to teach us."

Kilowog snorted at the challenge and jabbed himself in the chest with a finger the size of a water bottle, "I've trained the best of the best, poozer. The elite. Any Lantern that goes through _my_ boot camp turns into a ring slingin' _machine_."

"Kilowog's sort of like the Corps' drill sergeant," Hal explained. "He's the one who trains the new recruits, including myself and the rest of the Earth Lanterns."

"None of us are Green Lanterns," Artemis grumbled, picking herself up off the floor. She tossed her long ponytail over her shoulder and crossed her arms angrily.

Kilowog glanced at her over his shoulder, and then turned back to Conner with a dark grin, "I coulda told ya that without even seeing your fingers. None of you poozers even has what it takes to pass my little warm up session."

Wally saw Zatanna turn to Dick and mouth 'What's a poozer?'

Dick kept looking forward and shrugged, shaking his head rapidly, "I don't even…"

"Run it again," Kaldur spoke up suddenly from the middle of their loose gathering.

"What did you say, rookie?" Kilowog rumbled, staring the Atlantean down.

"Run your 'warm up' session again," Kaldur spoke dangerously as he leveled a determined glare at the towering Green Lantern. "And we will _show_ you that we are capable."

Kilowog stared at him for a long moment, then at Conner who was cracking his knuckles in silent anger and at each member of the Team in turn. Wally saw his friends all seem to rally at their leader's confident words. He looked up when Hal laid a hand on his shoulder and exchanged a wide, excited grin with the older hero.

"Tell you poozers what," Kilowog shoved Conner back with one hand and stomped into the center of the training ring. He flexed his ring arm and turned around to face them all, having put a considerable amount of distance between them. "We're gonna try a different exercise. If you can impress me, I'll teach you how to fight Manhunters."

The Team readied themselves for battle, all six young heroes steeling their resolve.

"But if you _fail_ ," Kilowog gave a low, grinding laugh. "I'm gonna tell the Justice League to send you all back to the sandbox, cause you ain't got no business fightin' crime, much less Manhunters."

Wally knew that Kilowog was just baiting them to get a rise. He highly doubted that any of the mentors would take kindly to hearing the Bolovaxian dissing their protégés to their faces, but it yielded the desired effect. Every single one of his friends glared at Kilowog balefully as the verbal barb hit particularly close to home for all of them. Wally's eyes kept darting between the Team and Kilowog nervously. How hard had they all worked this past year to distance themselves from being called 'sidekicks'?

"What are you waiting for?" Kilowog snorted. His ring flared to life and materialized six miniature revolving planetary systems. Three hovered close to the ground, spaced apart like the points of a triangle with Kilowog in dead center. The other three were higher in the air, spaced the same way but gathered slightly closer together to compensate for the gaps. Each revolving system was created differently and didn't appear to be modeled after any planets Wally had ever seen before. Each system had a minimum of ten staggered planets, with the biggest one the size of a monster truck. The suns were the size of houses, easily filling up the cavernous training room and radiating immense heat. The planets revolved around their respective suns at different speeds; the inner planets moving rapidly while the outer ones traveled at a fraction of their pace.

Each of the six suns seemed to be very real. They burned almost blindingly bright, and flares arced from their surfaces wildly.

 _"Impress me!"_ Kilowog bellowed, and then gravity took effect.

Wally felt himself violently jerked towards the closest sun before he was enveloped in green light and pulled back to Hal's side. Hal flew them both out of the battlefield to stand back by the room's only exit. He didn't appear to be struggling in the slightest against the gravitational pull, although Wally could still feel the incredible tug.

The largest planetary system had formed right around the Team with them only five planets from that system's sun. It instantly yanked everyone off their feet and dragged them into the blazing star.

Conner twisted around and managed to dig his fingers into the ground, creating long trenches in the floor as he was dragged several feet before catching to a stop. He reached out and snagged Artemis' quiver as she sailed past, snapping her to a halt as well. M'gann was able to right herself in the air and fly top speed in the opposite direction. She caught and tried to hold both Zatanna and Kaldur with her telekinesis, crying out loud from the strain. Dick fired his grapnel gun directly into the ground and wrapped the wire around his wrist a few times before the cord pulled taut. Wally heard his best friend's shoulder pop out of its socket with a sickening crack. Dick gave a strangled gasp of agony but held on, forcing his other hand up to grab the wire right as one of the smaller planets passed over him.

Wally looked over at Hal pleadingly, desperate to go help his teammates, "You're seriously sidelining me for _training_?!"

Hal held out his hands to ward him off, "Whoa! Not my call. Take it up with Barry."

"You're supposed to be the fun uncle," Wally griped, realizing that he wasn't getting free any time soon.

"Yeah, well, if I let you participate, and you get hurt, I'm gonna be the dead uncle," Hal said dryly.

"Coward," Wally jabbed with a bitter sigh.

Hal dropped him a few feet.

Down below, his friends were still struggling against the sun's pull. Kilowog, however, was standing easy despite being in the middle of six. He chuckled deeply at the young heroes, "This is pathetic. I even turned off the gravity for all the planets, and you poozers _still_ can't handle it."

Wally saw Conner's fingers slipping and M'gann starting to lose her hold on Kaldur and Zatanna. The leather strap looped across Artemis' chest was already stretched as far as it would go and beginning to tear from her quiver. And it was only a matter of time before Dick's grappling hook broke from the strain. Wally knew that it was Bat-tech, but it still had its limits.

"I think you six should break out the buckets and shovels when we're done in here," Kilowog laughed outright. "Make me a pretty sandcastle. Heh heh. If there's anything left of you…"

Conner's face screw up in rage, and he gave a great roar, pulling Artemis closer and actually wrapping his arm around _her_ right as her quiver's strap was on its last threads. A knife pulled free from one of Artemis' boots, and they all watched as it soared right into the closest sun and burned away before it even reached the fiery star. Artemis seemed to go rigid from fear and clutched at Conner's arm with a death grip, "We have to think of something fast!"

Wally opened his mouth to yell out instructions right as a green gag clamped over his face. He looked over at Hal in surprise only to see him shaking his head with a smile.

"No helping them," Hal waggled one finger at him. "No cheating."

Oh, come on! Just because he was injured, it didn't mean he wasn't part of the team anymore. If this was any normal battle and he was hurt, he'd still be able to help. What difference did it make?

One of the inner planets whirled around on its orbit, heading straight for Conner and Artemis. Wally felt his heart rate quicken as he watched the car sized green planet crash into them both and break Conner's grip, throwing them both to the mercy of the artificially created gravity.

They both slid several yards before Zatanna thrust out her arms and shouted, _"Ekam su reivaeh!"_

At the same time, all six of Wally's teammates hit the ground hard and stayed put like they were holding anchors. Even their hair looked extremely weighed down. On the plus side, none of them were being dragged into the sun anymore, but it didn't look like they were able to move either. And the massive planets were still spinning.

Conner hoisted Artemis up and threw her out of harm's way when the planet came around for a second pass. She slid only a few feet and had to quickly flatten herself to the floor when another, larger planet came rolling around.

"Never thought I'd ever want to use _that_ spell," Zatanna joked lightly, trying to keep her face from being smashed into the floor. "Sorry, guys. I didn't know what else to do."

"You did well," Kaldur said through gritted teeth as he attempted and failed to stand. Sweat poured off him in rivulets as the intense heat from the suns took its toll on him. Wally knew that he would be dehydrating in a matter of minutes if he wasn't careful. Off to the side, M'gann wasn't faring much better. "We are safe for the moment. However, now we need to find a way to move without being pulled into the suns."

"Green Lantern rings work by willpower, right?" Dick took the added weight and used it to his advantage, placing his shoulder to the floor and aligning his torso just right. Zatanna's gravity spell bore down on him and forced his shoulder back into its socket with another awful sound. He only took a moment to catch his breath and looked at M'gann. "Miss Martian, can you get into his head and break his concentration? We'd only need a few seconds."

M'gann was already showing signs that the heat was becoming too much for her. Hell, Wally was on the very edges of the battlefield and shielded by one of the most skilled Lanterns in the universe, and _he_ was really feeling the heat. She propped herself up on one elbow and tried to see Kilowog through the gaps in the rotating and revolving minefield of planets, "I- I think I might be able to, but I can barely concentrate _myself_. If one of these planets hits me, I'll lose it."

"Leave that to us," Dick gave her a reassuring grin and then craned his neck to look at Artemis. "Get your timed explosive arrows ready. _Heavy_ explosives. You and I are going to take out the planets that pass too closely to us."

The blonde nodded as best she could and maneuvered her quiver under her arm so that she could access the arrows lying inside, "I'm not going to be able to shoot anything."

"My spell only affects your body," Zatanna frowned. "Our clothes and equipment should be fine."

"That's not it," she winced as the largest planet passed over her again. "Trying to shoot arrows with all these suns around us is going to be like shooting through hurricane force winds. It'll be impossible to calculate all the shifts in direction and correct them."

"That's fine," Dick didn't seem fazed by the news. Wally figured that his best friend had already realized that and taken it into account. "We just need the planets closest to us. Superboy, Aqualad, stay down and rest up. We're going to need you both at full strength when we reach Kilowog. Zee, put up a-"

"-force field around Miss Martian," Zatanna finished his thought for him, and Wally found that he didn't like how in sync she was with him – _really_ didn't like it.

Dick nodded in agreement, "Don't bother shielding the rest of us. Keep all your power focused on her."

"Alright, Miss M," Dick had both hands full of red batarangs and was looking in every direction, watching the planets move. " _Go!_ "

M'gann's eyes glowed bright green, and her expression went slack as she attempted to break into Kilowog's mind.

Zatanna had been slowly crawling her way closer to the Martian, inch by inch, until they were crouched beside each other. She waited for Dick's signal and then yelled in an echoing voice, _"Tup a dleihs dnuora Ssim Naitram dna I!"_

Wally could see a clear but shimmering bubble form around the two girls.

"Get ready to set your timers…" Dick warned Artemis. Wally could see the wheels turning in his head as he studied the speed and paths of the planets of all six revolving systems and the points where they passed closest to each other. It only took him a matter of minutes, and suddenly he was a whirl of action, shouting out commands and setting the timers on his own explosive projectiles. "Alright, this has to be _perfect!_ Get two arrows ready; set one for detonation at fifteen seconds and the other for seven seconds."

Artemis twisted the tips of her arrows to set them, "Done!"

"Stab the first arrow set for fifteen seconds into the planet that passes directly above you," Dick shouted. One of the five planets within throwing distance of the acrobat came spinning by, and he hurled his first batarang into it with no difficulty. "You'll have to shoot the second, but you'll be shooting _towards_ the sun. It needs to hit the planet that passes closest to Superboy – the darkest green one! I'll handle the ones further out."

Wally watched in awe as Dick threw three more batarangs, hitting two of his target planets when they came by, and ducked when his third missile fell just a few inches short of its intended planet and came whizzing close to his head as the sun's gravitational pull yanked it back. Artemis jammed her first arrow up into the planet and rolled onto her back as soon as it had moved on. She pulled her bow out and managed to shoot her second arrow before the sun's pull ripped the bow from her hand and sent it rocketing, along with the arrow, into the planet. The arrow dug in perfectly, but the compound bow splintered apart on impact, and the shards were quickly devoured by the sun's heat. Dick scored his fourth hit on the next planet to come too close to the group and immediately covered his neck with his hands and pressed his face into the floor.

_"Everyone down!"_

Wally saw the entire team take shelter into the floor. He watched the targeted planets continue along their paths and realized Dick's objective with the timers an instant before it happened. He hadn't wanted the timers to make sure that the explosions took place well away from the Team; he'd calculated the points where the planets were closest together and figured out where to place the charges and when to detonate them in order to take out as many planets as possible at one time.

The second planet that Artemis shot reached a point on the opposite side of the sun where it passed very close to the two other innermost planets to their system. Then, it detonated.

The explosion blew apart the biggest planet like it was as fragile as an egg, taking out it and the two planets closest to it. Then, the planet that Dick had hit first blew. _That_ one took out a few planets in the neighboring planetary system where they intersected. The second planet that Artemis stabbed detonated, and then two more of Dick's followed after that, and the last one exploded seconds later.

Wally flinched as the six deafening blasts shook the very walls of the cave. Like a chain reaction, glowing green planet after planet blew apart, either from the explosives themselves or the giant, jettisoned chunks of other planets. The Team was showered with shrapnel and debris but remained hunkered down until it all stopped.

When the dust and smoke cleared, Wally was able to see everything. Out of the ninety-something planets that Kilowog had created, Dick's plan took out twenty-seven and heavily damaged another three. Wally couldn't be sure, but if he'd followed Dick's plan correctly, it looked like another five might have been destroyed had one of his batarangs not fallen short of its intended target.

The explosions had completely cleared the Team's immediate area of threatening planets and had removed the planets of other systems from the equation as well. The only thing that remained of the targeted planets was a cloud of whirling debris.

Wally was so amazed by the perfectly executed attack that he was startled back into reality when Hal gave a low, appreciative whistle beside him.

The Green Lantern was still calm, but he was staring at the devastation below with an intrigued expression on his face, " _That_ … was really something…"

Wally felt himself swell with pride as he stared down at Dick. He wanted to call down to them, but Hal still had the gag on him – which was smart, because Wally totally would have shouted down to them how to beat Kilowog's trap. Beating _Kilowog_ was a completely different story altogether, but Wally could have at least helped them with the constructs.

The whole Team, minus M'gann who was still mentally linked with Kilowog, gave small cheers and exhausted laughs at the massive success.

_"Hgiew nwod eht sirbed!"_

At Zatanna's shout, the swirling debris field dropped to the ground and cleared the air for them.

The small reprieve didn't last long. M'gann suddenly jerked back, and her eyes returned to normal. She gasped, clutching her head, and looked around at her teammates in shock, "It didn't work!"

Before anyone had time to react, they all heard Kilowog's easy laughter again from the center of the cavern, "You should know better than to try and break a Green Lantern's will. And it's extra stupid to break into my head and try to scramble my thoughts. I'm from Bolovax Vik, little Martian. Don't you know what that means?"

The Team stared at him blankly, and Wally couldn't really blame them. He'd never even heard of that planet until he met Kilowog.

"My people can share one communal mind," Kilowog smiled at them all darkly. "All sixteen billion of us. Do you know what it's like to have to keep your own mind intact when you can link up with the thoughts and feelings of an entire planet? You couldn't break my concentration that way if you spent a lifetime trying."

Their small victory just moments ago seemed meaningless now. They still didn't have any way to circumvent the six suns. Again, Wally could see Dick working furiously to solve their predicament.

"Can't you just phase through the floor and drag him down through it?" Artemis asked M'gann with her eyes shut tightly in pain. Zatanna's spell was beginning to take its toll on them all.

"Even when I'm at my full strength, density shifting is too advanced for me," M'gann shook her head apologetically.

"I bet I could _punch_ through the floor," Conner growled in frustration.

"And then what – tunnel _under_ him?" Dick shot him a look like he was crazy. "We need to think of something to get rid of the suns so that we can move."

"Why can't Aqualad just put them out with water?" Conner asked impatiently.

Kaldur looked like he was very ill. He and M'gann needed to get out of this dehydrating heat quickly, or they were going to be in some real danger. The Atlantean struggled to even lift his head, "I am afraid that would not work even if I had enough water at my command."

Wally tried not to feel exasperated with his friends. They all had their different fields of expertise, and science – also Green Lanterns – just wasn't theirs. The sun didn't burn through oxidation; it was powered by nuclear fusion. Feeding water to a real sun would just break the water down into hydrogen and oxygen. And since hydrogen was kind of the fuel for the sun…that would just make it worse…like throwing gasoline on a campfire.

He looked around for something to grab their attention and spotted the rough, unpolished cavern wall beside him. All of the explosions had shaken loose part of the cave. Wally spotted a bit that stuck out a little, took aim, and kicked it as hard as he could. A pretty sizeable chunk of the cave wall detached and cracked apart loudly when it hit the floor.

Dick immediately looked over at where it had struck the ground and then up where Hal and Wally were hovering – with Wally waving frantically to get his attention. His eyes widened suddenly at the gag over Wally's mouth, probably thinking he was in danger for a split second, and then narrowed in confusion.

'Alright,' Wally thought joyfully, ignoring Hal's suspicious glares. It was super bro telepathy time. Or actually….regular _Martian_ telepathy time would work fine too. Why weren't they mentally linked up? Oh wait, maybe the Team was, and M'gann just hadn't included him in it. Ah, not important! Okay, focus! He needed to do this right and do it fast. And since he couldn't speak, and didn't know an ounce of sign language…

Charades!

He and Dick were the _kings_ of board game night. The Team had actually tried to ban them from being on the same side because they were just that freakin' good. For them, Charades was effortless.

But how the hell was he supposed to act out the color yellow?

Maybe if he could get Dick to guess enough yellow _things_ , he'd get it. Okay, what was yellow? The sun – he didn't know how to act that out, and pointing at one of the existing suns would just confuse Dick. A banana? He tried to imagine himself trying to mime a banana. A lemon? Mustard? Ugh, _no_! Alright, uh, maybe a traffic light? Or he could try miming a rainbow and pointing down the rows to yellow. No, he'd probably just look like he was interpretive dancing… Crap. This was hard.

Worrying about losing Dick's attention, Wally started frantically running his hands all over his torso and arms where the yellow of his Kid Flash costume would be if he was wearing it.

It didn't work at all. Dick's eyes bugged out of his head, and Wally sort of thought he saw him flush a little. It must be getting even hotter down there. He needed to hurry. Wally rubbed his hands across his chest and stomach, nodding with a smile. Then, he pulled his feet up to gesture to where the red would be on his costume's pants and shook his head while frowning.

His best friend stared at him blankly. Ugh, come on Dick, yellow good! Red bad! Wally tapped his chest with both hands again and turned to point at Hal. He mimed making a fist and pretended to punch the older hero, all the while gesturing to his torso and waggling his eyebrows encouragingly at the acrobat down below. He probably looked ridiculous, but he didn't care.

It only took a few more seconds before Hal caught on to what he was doing. Hal gasped, looking scandalized, and smacked Wally's pointing hand down, "Stop it! I'm onto you!"

Wally smacked Hal's hand right back, still pointing to his own torso and nodding at Dick. Then, he and Hal essentially got into a slap fight. He could see Dick looking back and forth between them, completely bewildered. He wasn't getting it, and it wasn't Dick's fault. The only reason Wally even knew so much about Green Lanterns was because Hal was his uncle's closest friend, and he came to Central City all the time to go on patrol with them or drag them along on weird adventures.

In a frantic, last ditch effort, Wally slapped his chest particularly hard and then grabbed the green band over his mouth with both hands and mimed breaking it.

Dick's eyes widened in recognition, and an enlightened grin slowly spread across his face. The Boy Wonder ripped out a batarang and held it out to Zatanna, who was trying to cool down M'gann and Kaldur, "Zee! Can you turn all of our costumes and weapons yellow?!"

Zatanna gave him a look like he'd lost his mind. Ha! So maybe she and Dick weren't as in sync as Wally had feared. He'd bet that _she_ couldn't partner with Dick in a game of ultimate charades during a heated battle.

"Umm…sure Robin…" she seemed to be thinking about it for a moment. Then, she looked right at Wally and smiled as an idea came to her. "Does it have to be all yellow?"

"Just so long as the weapons are," Dick sent a brilliant grin up at Wally in thanks, and he couldn't help smiling back despite the gag hiding the lower half of his face.

 _"Brag su ni Dik S'hsalf sroloc!"_ Zatanna shouted.

Wally watched with a smile as his friends' gear became the same bright yellow as his own costume with red accents. He shot a triumphant look over at Hal, who looked upset that his efforts had been flouted, "Cheater…"

Wally glared at him briefly before turning back to watch his teammates.

"Alright," Dick whipped one, now yellow, batarang at the closest sun, "Green Lantern constructs can't hold up against the color yellow. KF told me that ages ago. I can't believe I forgot."

Dick's missile launched right at the sun that had been terrorizing them for the last thirty minutes and ripped through it without burning up. The smoldering green star seemed to bend inwards at the point of impact and collapse in on itself.

Wally watched his friends anxiously, chewing on the inside of his lip. Yeah, they were systematically taking out the suns and remaining planets, but they seemed to have forgotten about Kilowog for the moment. And the massive Green Lantern was grinning eagerly and readying himself for a fight.

Beside him, Hal smiled too, "Now it's about to get good."

Wally shot him a look and asked, "Don't you have any war plans to be helping with?"

"I'm on break," Hal shrugged. "Besides, I wanted to see this."

Wally rolled his eyes and shook his head. He could hear Dick down below giving commands and Zatanna cancelling her weight spells. Conner gave a loud roar and immediately launched himself into the air at Kilowog, who remained relaxed. He looked up at Conner as he entered free fall, "Took you poozers long enough to figure that out."

Kilowog raised one arm in defense as Conner came crashing down on him. He barely even moved when the half-Kryptonian landed right in front of him and slammed a fist into his arm. Kilowog just shook it off and grabbed Conner's elbow, throwing him aside effortlessly.

"Do you know what I use my ring for, rookies?" He laughed loudly as M'gann righted Conner in midair. "Flying towards my enemies so I can take em out with my own two hands."

Undaunted, Kaldur doused himself in water from his pack and took a few unsteady steps towards their new objective before gaining momentum and breaking into a run. His tattoos flared bright blue, and he formed two blades with his water-bearers. Conner charged at Kilowog again, trying to force him to turn his back and leave an opening for Kaldur, but Kilowog simply snatched up the Atlantean's exposed arms with his power ring and swung him into Conner with another booming laugh.

"You poozers aren't going to impress me like thi-"

Dick suddenly dropped onto his back and stuffed a smoke bomb into his open mouth with a cackle before vaulting off backwards, landing upside down on both hands, and springing back onto his feet with a huge grin. Wally's head whipped over to look at where Dick had just been a second ago – halfway across the room – and he smiled at how easily his best friend could disappear without anyone noticing.

Kilowog broke off into a hacking, sputtering cough as the smoke filled his mouth, throat, and eyes. He took a blind swipe at Dick, but the acrobat was already far out of range by then.

_"Ekoms dna srorrim!"_

The smoke expanded to form a massive cloud that engulfed Kilowog. Kaldur and Conner both rolled to escape the smoke, and Dick was already back in the air, landing gracefully on the rafters and unhooking his grapnel gun. Wally saw M'gann's eyes glow again, and the smoke cloud started twisting and swirling violently, not allowing a single tendril to escape. Artemis pulled a collapsible crossbow from her hip and opened it with a snap of her elbow. She fired a barrage of bolts into the smoke that detonated on impact, throwing Kilowog free of the cloud and onto his back.

Kaldur doused the Green Lantern with a jet of water and slapped his hands on the trail of water connecting them. Wally could see Kaldur's fingertips spark with electricity. The current traveled through the water and danced all along Kilowog's body dangerously. He looked momentarily affected, but Kilowog's skin was far too thick to absorb much damage from the shock.

Conner took the opening and grabbed Kilowog around his massive neck, squeezing with all his might. Kaldur came at him, water-bearers blazing, and dodged beneath the kick that was aimed at him. M'gann pulled Kilowog's other leg out from under him and sent him crashing to the ground where the very cave floor shot out to wrap around him like a straitjacket at Zatanna's command. Dick jumped down and landed on the stone encasing Kilowog's chest, leveling one yellow batarang at the Bolovaxian's face. Artemis reloaded her crossbow and aimed it similarly while Conner adjusted his hold to stay out of their way.

Kaldur quickly placed both water blades down on Kilowog's neck and said calmly, "Yield."

Both Hal and Wally glanced at each other knowingly, and the speedster sighed.

Without so much as a single word or taunt, Kilowog flexed his arms and broke out of his restraints. He snatched Dick by the chest and Kaldur around the waist, then cracked their heads together and unceremoniously tossed them both aside. He gave Conner the same treatment, flinging him over his head and right at M'gann. Conner crashed into her, and they both fell to the floor in a heap. Artemis had enough time to fire a few bolts at Kilowog that stuck in the upper layers of his skin like porcupine needles, and then he was on her. He planted a foot the size of a trashcan lid square in her chest and sent her soaring back several yards. Wally saw her hit the ground and roll a few more feet before coming to a halt and lying still. Zatanna stood frozen in shock at how quickly the tables had turned. She was the least experienced of them when it came to actual battles, and so her reflexes still weren't where they needed to be. By the time she'd stammered out half of a defensive spell, Kilowog had her knocked out as well.

The huge Green Lantern straightened up then, standing in the middle of Wally's fallen teammates, and placed his hands on his hips to survey his work. Hal flew them both over to where Kilowog stood and finally released Wally from his ring. Wally immediately zipped over to Dick and examined the large knot that was forming on the side of his head with a mild grimace. The boy wonder was out cold.

"Told you they were good," Hal smiled up at Kilowog. He nudged Conner with his boot and crossed his arms in satisfaction. "So, what do you think?"

"They didn't give up even for a second," Kilowog laughed in his deep, rumbling voice. Wally watched as Kilowog stared down at the unconscious Team fondly. "I like 'em."


	8. Chapter 8

[Mount Justice

March 21, 20:00 EST]

Everyone on the Team had their own room in Mt. Justice. It was mostly so that they'd have a nearby place to crash after particularly rough missions, but was also a great safe house. True, the Joker _did_ know where the cave was – and that was a little more than terrifying – but he'd never be able to get inside now with all the upgraded security measures they'd had to install after the Reds had attacked.

It was like their home away from home, and for M'gann, Conner, Zatanna…and now _Wally_ , it _was_ their home. Wally was trying really hard not to dwell on that fact, but it was all around him - quite literally - staring him in the face. He didn't _want_ to be upset about it, especially when this was how Conner and M'gann had been living for the past year, but he wanted to be with his aunt and uncle. They weren't even at their own house, though. They were both staying in Uncle Barry's quarters on the Watchtower until they knew the status of the Flash Family's secret identities.

Wally finished hanging the last of his clothes in the closet and shut the door with an exhausted sigh. He was tired of packing and moving and just plain tired actually. After Kilowog had taken out the entire Team and begun giving them first aid, Hal had given Wally some training of his own. That was when Wally had forgiven his family and the League just a little for being so protective and keeping him off the Team.

Because he was out of _shape._ Like, Hal had smacked the shit out of him. No mercy. And Wally's punches had _no_ weight behind them. He'd never make it through a mission in his current condition. Wally needed to bulk up some and fast. He was really pitiful at the moment, and that was hard to admit, but true.

So, he'd given his all to Hal's exercises and worked himself until his muscles gave out, and then he'd eaten about a quarter of the kitchen. His metabolism was back with a vengeance. It was acting weird lately – burning his calories up at hyper speed like usual one day, and then operating at a regular human's pace the next. Wally had been terrified at first that he was losing his powers, but his superspeed was still there. Maybe…he was finally becoming a _real_ speedster. Uncle Barry could have a massive appetite sometimes, and he could accelerate his metabolism when wanted, but he didn't _need_ to eat in order to use his powers. His speed didn't draw on his body's supply of food for fuel. It wasn't constantly pushing him to starvation.

It…would be really nice to use his powers and not have to worry about getting to food every two hours. And it would be even nicer – absolutely, totally, freaking _amazing_ – if he could keep pace with his uncle when they ran. Wally had been sneaking out for midnight runs every night since he and Dick had burned across half the country in a matter of minutes. He was definitely faster, no question about that, but Wally hadn't been able to reach the same speed that he'd gone that first day when he ran with Dick on his back.

He couldn't figure out what was different. By all rights, the lack of extra weight should have made him faster, not slower. It didn't make any sense.

Wally went to his bed and flopped down on the freshly spread out comforter. Immediately, his arms, stomach, and legs started aching. He grabbed a pillow from the headboard and buried his face in it with a groan. He couldn't remember hurting this badly from a workout since he was ten and Uncle Barry had put him through conditioning when he'd first started out as Kid Flash. It was momentarily overwhelming that he had to start all over again almost from scratch, but then he thought about what Dick had said to him – that they were in this together no matter what.

He felt better instantly.

The door to his room chirped twice to let him know there was someone outside, and it slid open. Wally hardly ever felt the need to lock it. He looked up in time to see a very disgruntled looking Dick stomp in with an ice pack pressed to the side of his head. The boy wonder peeled off his mask and chucked it over his shoulder as the door slid shut behind him. He offhandedly keyed in the lock codes on the control panel and came over to the bed to collapse down on it beside Wally, unclipping his cape and kicking off his shoes.

"Dude, Green Lanterns suck. You can have them back."

Wally laughed at him, "Sorry, man. I would've warned you about Kilowog, but I didn't think you'd ever meet him, and I definitely didn't think you'd have to fight him."

Dick shot him a withering glare and rolled onto his side to turn his back to Wally, "How the hell do you even know him?"

"Oh," Wally couldn't help but laugh again at the memory. "Pretty funny story, actually. I think I was twelve. Anyways, Hal was watching me for the day because it was my weekend to stay with Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris, but then Captain Cold decided that he was in love with Aunt Iris and kidnapped her from the news station. So, Uncle Barry got Hal to watch me while he went to go save her. Well, Hal and I were sitting on the couch watching-"

"Whoa, wait," Dick rolled back over to face him again with an alarmed expression. "Captain Cold kidnapped your aunt?! And he's in love with her?"

"Oh yeah," Wally waved off his surprise. "So is Professor Zoom, but that's a whole other story. Anyways, she was totally fine – maced Captain Cold in his hideout before Uncle Barry even got there. So, Hal and I were sitting on his couch in Coast City watching some movie – I was really sick, by the way; that's why I didn't go with Uncle Barry to help rescue Aunt I – when all of a sudden this huge grey alien with like a _ton_ of teeth busts through the wall, shoots Hal with all this yellow energy stuff, grabs me up, and flies off with me."

Dick snickered suddenly, "You got abducted by an alien?"

"Dude, shut up," Wally cocked an eyebrow at him. "Let's not even get _started_ on how many times _you've_ been kidnapped."

His best friend sputtered indignantly, but Wally just smacked him in the side playfully, "Don't interrupt. So, it turned out that the alien was a Yellow Lantern named Arkillo, and he was sent to Earth by this other Yellow Lantern, Sinestro, to mess with Hal – cause Hal's always got crazy baggage like that going on – just for giggles. So, Arkillo took me to this old Ferris Aircraft hangar and was all ' _I'm gonna eat you, human!'_ for like five seconds. Then, Kilowog comes crashing in and starts kicking the ugly out of Arkillo's face. I guess he was chasing Arkillo all the way here, cause they're from the same space sector or whatever, and they're archenemies. Anyways, Arkillo has Kilowog in this hold, and he's trying to tear off his arm. That's when I decided that it would be a good idea to run up and kick Arkillo in the kneecap."

Dick's eyes widened comically, and the look on his face was priceless.

"Yeah, I was twelve, remember? Terrible idea. I distracted him long enough for Kilowog to break out and cut off Arkillo's ring finger. Then, Hal's lazy butt finally showed up and introduced us," Wally nodded happily. "And Kilowog was all 'This little guy is awesome! Hal, why are you so terrible, and why is he so much cooler than you?' True story."

Dick smiled at him skeptically, "I'm sure that's exactly what went down."

"It happened!"

Dick just shook his head and shifted to lie flat on his back, wincing visibly when his shoulder was jostled.

"Are you alright?" Wally pushed up from the bed to lean over his friend in concern. "You got pretty banged up back there?"

"Yeah," Dick nodded and closed his eyes. "Kilowog put my arm back in correctly while I was still out. I guess I pinched a nerve when I did it myself, but I wasn't really going for finesse at the time. Then, Hal used his ring to scan my head and said everything checked out. I don't have a concussion or anything, but, man, Kaldur's head is _hard_."

Wally laughed at that, pulling his legs up to sit cross-legged when he saw Dick poking at the offending shoulder irritably, "Well, if Hal says you're fine, then I believe him. He's like the king of head injuries. But, if your shoulder's still hurting, I can massage it for you. I've got magic speedster hands."

He waggled his fingers at his friend as proof. Dick's eyes popped open suddenly, and he stared at Wally with the weirdest expression – like a mix of surprise, intestinal distress, and a little bit of fear. The younger boy started turning bright red, and he shook his head, " _No_! Uh, no. That's cool; I'm fine really. Just a little stiff right now, but it'll go away on its own. See?"

Dick lifted his arm up and rotated the joint to demonstrate its apparent 'fine-ness'. The arm crackled and snapped loudly several times, and Dick's face contorted into surprised agony before he froze completely and started twitching.

"Oh, _yeah_. You're totally fine," Wally's voice was dripping with sarcasm. He rolled his eyes and moved so that he was sitting on his knees, motioning for Dick to turn over. "Lie on your stomach and stretch your arm out to the side."

Dick shook his head in adamant refusal, "I really don't want one."

"It's not gonna hurt, you big baby," Wally laughed, attempting to roll his friend over himself. "I promise."

But, for some reason, Dick flushed redder and only put up superficial resistance to Wally's manhandling. He eventually gave in and let Wally position him the way he wanted, shoving a pillow under his chest and stretching his arm out at a ninety degree angle obediently. His arm popped unpleasantly, and Wally heard his friend give a little high-pitched squeak of pain. He pretended not to hear it and placed one hand in the center of Dick's back to steady him, gently pressing down on his trapezius muscle to get him to relax. Dick was seized up completely. Wally moved his fingers up the muscle to the very top of Dick's shoulder, closest to his neck, "You were a total badass down there, by the way – when you came up with the plan to destroy the construct planets."

He could see Dick's ears turn red, and he watched his friend turn his head away slightly before focusing on what he was doing one hundred percent.

"Yeah, well, it didn't matter too much," he grumbled. "We still got our butts handed to us."

"Well, you didn't expect to _win_ , did you?" Wally laughed, still trying to get Dick to relax his arm. "Kilowog _trains_ Green Lanterns."

"Yeah, I got that _now_ ," Dick huffed stubbornly. He lay still for a few minutes while Wally methodically worked the kinks out of his muscles. "Thanks, though, for helping me figure out how to beat his trap."

"You're welcome," Wally worked his fingers over to the deltoid muscle. Since there was no longer any danger of Dick throwing him off, Wally put his other hand to work massaging the rounded part of Dick's shoulder. "I know you aren't as well versed in the Lanterns as I am – or a lot of the other heroes, actually. Batman really needs to make more super friends. I bet you don't get the chance to see other heroes as often."

Dick shrugged a little, "Superman comes over every once in awhile, but that's about it. Bruce doesn't really like metas in Gotham. You and your uncle are really the only ones he doesn't mind working in his city."

"Really? How come?" Wally chewed on the inside of his cheek as he concentrated. He tried lightly vibrating his palms, and Dick completely melted under his touch.

The younger hero let his head loll to the side bonelessly, and he let out a happy sort of groan, "Collateral damage. You've seen how Superman fights – Metropolis is almost always under construction to clean up after one of his fights. Green Lantern's the same way. They don't pull their punches when they're fighting in a city. Batman likes Flash because he knows how to control his tricks and he taught you how to do it too. Central City and Keystone are almost never torn up."

Wally took a second to think about that. Dick was right; Wally knew for a fact that his uncle could deliver a punch with enough momentum behind it to level a building, but he was always careful in a city. Uncle Barry even made sure to go a slow enough speed that he didn't rip up the streets in his wake.

"You suck at Charades, by the way," Dick mumbled absently while Wally's vibrating fingers forced his aching shoulder into a completely relaxed state.

"Hey, you guessed it, didn't you?"

"Yeah, after I spent five minutes trying to figure out why you were feeling yourself up in front of me," Dick snorted into the pillow.

That made Wally freeze, and then Dick tensed up all over again, " _What_? Why would I be feeling myself up?! Wait, why would you _think_ I was feeling myself up?"

"I don't know!" Dick said hastily. "I didn't- I was just… _I don't know!_ "

"Whoa, calm down!" Wally laughed, pushing his friend back down when he tried to escape, "I was just teasing you."

" _You_ calm down…" Dick lay down again, smashing his face into the pillow with a 'whump'.

An awkward silence stretched between them then with Dick just steaming and Wally quietly massaging his arm. He moved Dick's arm down to press against his side and worked on the bicep next.

"Zatanna was pretty awesome, huh?"

Wally's hand clenched into a fist suddenly, and he accidentally gripped Dick's sore arm tightly.

" _Ow!_ " the younger boy exclaimed, jerking away instinctively. "What was that?!"

"Sorry!" Wally pulled back and held up his hands. "I-I slipped. Won't happen again! I'm really sorry, man!"

"This is not 'abuse Robin' day," Dick gave a long suffering sigh and stretched out again, his legs half hanging off the side of the bed. His flushed skin slowly turned back to its normal pale color. "Anyways, I was just saying that it was cool how Zee changed our uniforms to look like yours. It was like you were down there with us; it really helped me focus. I do _not_ like fighting without you. It messes up all my plans. I'm so used to tag teaming with you."

Wally's internal reaction to Dick's words was negative at first and then overwhelmingly fantastic. He bristled at Dick's nickname for Zatanna. He _really_ didn't like that they were close enough to be using nicknames. Wally wondered if Zatanna had one for Dick. He seethed quietly at the thought of that.

But, then Dick's admission had also gotten his heart pumping in a very confusing, but pleasant way. Wally really did have a lot of deep rooted insecurities – it was hard not to with how he'd grown up. So, it was really cool to hear that Dick was flustered even a little without him.

"Yeah, that was cool of her," Wally had to admit grudgingly, because it _was_. Zatanna really was nice, and the Team was stronger because of her. And, really, she'd been nothing but friendly to him. However, Dick had taken an instant liking to her, which bothered Wally something fierce, and he couldn't figure out why.

He wondered if maybe he was subconsciously worried about her taking his place. But that was stupid. It had to be something else.

"How are you doing with the whole living at the cave thing?" Dick asked over his shoulder cautiously.

Wally moved Dick's arm again, this time extending it straight up, "It's alright. I mean, it's better than what Uncle Barry was thinking about. He was going to send me to Alabama to stay with Max, which would've been okay. I mean, I like Max and all, but it's _Alabama_."

Dick laughed a little at that.

"I guess I'm lucky that Batman just decided all of a sudden to talk Uncle Barry into letting me stay here," Wally said loudly, looking at Dick out of the corner of his eye as he worked. He wasn't stupid. He knew that Dick had to have had a huge hand in getting him moved to the cave.

Predictably, the younger hero looked a little guilty but smiled, "You're welcome?"

"Thanks," Wally chuckled, digging his fingers in a bit harder now to really work out the kinks. "Hey, Max is taking me out running in a few days if you want to come with."

"Ugh, no thanks," Dick closed his eyes again, starting to sound a little like he was beginning to get drowsy. "I'm still good from the other day. I don't normally get motion sickness, but you definitely floored me. I think I'm gonna wait a while before I try that again."

Wally would be lying if he said he wasn't a little smug about that.

"Wait," Dick rolled his head to the side and cracked one eye open to look at him. "I thought Flash was going with you."

"Nah, he can't get the free time to," Wally shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. It really wasn't. "The League's got everyone coordinating with the Lanterns, and I'm sure you heard that they're breaking it to the United Nations tomorrow. So, Max offered to take me instead. Jay might be coming too; I'm not sure."

"I'm glad you'll get to really cut loose soon," Dick mumbled softly, burying his face into the crook of his other arm. Wally was almost done with the injured joint, so he let one of his hands drift over the rest of his friend's back and start massaging the muscles there to help him drift off to sleep faster. He needed the rest after taking a beating like that from Kilowog. "You won't have to worry about me holding you back."

"You don't ever hold me back," Wally smiled.

"I do when you're running 2,937 miles per hour," Dick snorted, yawning once and then going quiet.

"True," Wally had to agree. He hadn't been able to replicate that kind of speed a second time yet, but even if he could, he wouldn't risk going that fast again with Dick. If anything went wrong – if he even tripped once – his best friend was dead instantly. Wally waited for Dick to say something else, but his friend's breathing had evened out, and he was definitely already asleep.

Carefully, Wally moved back from his best friend and tossed the half of the comforter that he wasn't already lying on top of over him. He kicked off his own shoes and reached up to flick off the lights before awkwardly drawing his legs up so that he could fit on the upper half of the bed without jostling Dick. It was eight o' clock, which was a little too early to be going to sleep, but he hadn't been getting the best night's sleep lately. Dick had stayed with him in Keystone for the first couple days after they'd found out about his father breaking out of the Watchtower, but then he'd been called back to Gotham. And Wally had gotten next to _no_ sleep in the last two nights since. Turns out he slept just fine with Dick next to him but was plagued with nightmares when he was alone.

He settled in for the night as best he could, hoping that his friend's presence would stave off the night terrors long enough for him to grab a few hours of unbroken rest.

Unfortunately, this night would prove to be no different. Wally tossed and turned restlessly, caught in the throes of one of the worst nightmares yet. He dreamed that his father had found him somehow and broken into the cave while they all slept. Wally's father walked into his room and stared at him with the same cold, hate-filled eyes that he'd had the day he'd pulled a gun on him in the staircase.

Wally froze in fear, his heart flying into overdrive as his father stalked towards him, pulling a long, kitchen knife from behind his back. It was wet and glossy with blood – his mother's blood. Wally tried to sit up and jerk backwards, but his limbs didn't respond. He looked down at them frantically and felt his stomach drop into his feet. His body was moving, but in extreme slow motion. Wally pushed himself as hard as he could to escape his steadily approaching father, but his arms and legs continued moving at a snail's pace. He managed to crawl away an inch when he looked back and saw that his father had stopped and was looking slightly to his left. Wally's eyes darted to the side and his heart clenched tightly like someone was gripping it with both hands.

Dick was still asleep on the bed beside him, completely unmoving except for the soft rise and fall of his back.

Wally's father glanced at him with a dark smile and deftly twirled the knife between his fingers before taking a few steps towards Dick. Abruptly, Wally's fear for himself vanished entirely, and he felt his heart beat frantically in a different kind of alarm.

" _No!"_ Wally tried to scream. He desperately tried to push through whatever lock was on his speed, but it was like the air was thicker than molasses. Wally watched, petrified, as his father stood over Dick with the knife. His whole body vibrated wildly in terror, and he fought hysterically to bridge the few feet between them. " _Get away from him!"_

His dad grabbed Dick's shoulder and roughly shoved him onto his back, bracing himself on the bed with one hand and tauntingly placing the tip of the knife right over Dick's heart. Dick didn't so much as twitch in his sleep.

No no no no, God no! Wally's chest constricted, and he couldn't breathe. His father shot him another hateful glare and started to drive the knife down.

Wally jerked awake with a soundless, rattling gasp. He sat upright, shivering convulsively, and looked around the darkened room wildly before his eyes found Dick lying motionless beside him. With a startling speed, especially in contrast to the nightmare, he leaned closer and watched his friend sleep until he was positive that he saw Dick breathing. He covered his mouth with one shaking hand and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes and trying to control his racing heartbeat.

Not real. Not real Not real.

He cracked one eye open again to look at Dick. Still breathing. He's breathing. No knife. It wasn't real. Not real. St-still alive. Wally threaded his fingers through his hair and clenched them into fists, feeling the roots pull painfully. Hot tears burned at his eyes and rushed down his face, and Wally drew his knees up to his chest as he began to crumble. He thought of his mother and of Dick's vibrant blue eyes, and the stoic look of death in his father's face, and he remembered the cold, helpless feeling of all the blood in his body quickly seeping out.

Wally took deep, shuddering breaths to steady himself and reached out to pull the pieces of himself back together, but they wouldn't stick. It was like the harder he tried to keep them in place, the more pieces separated from the whole. He tilted his head back to press against the wall behind him.

He needed to run.

Wally was off the bed and on his feet in moments. He strode towards the door but stopped dead in his tracks and looked back at Dick unsurely. They were a team now – always had been, but especially were now. He moved back to the bed and grasped Dick's shoulder tentatively. The boy wonder sniffed suddenly and snuggled into the bed further. Wally gently shook him and whispered his friend's name quietly.

"Hnnrn?" Dick opened his eyes groggily.

"Dick, I've gotta go," Wally croaked.

"Wha-?"

"I have to go for a run," Wally cleared his throat.

Dick looked at him blearily, confused. "What? O-Okay. Have fun…"

He was still too asleep, Wally realized. Dick wasn't usually such a heavy sleeper. He suddenly remembered how quickly his friend had fallen asleep earlier. Hal must've given him something for the pain – something that helped knock him out. Otherwise, Dick would be much more alert right now, instead of losing the battle with his eyelids to keep them open. Wally let his friend roll back over and quickly fall unconscious. Leaving without making absolutely sure that Dick understood what he was doing would probably make him angry, but Wally really didn't want to disturb him.

He wanted to run and run until he ran out of Earth or energy, whichever came first. But, if Dick didn't know he would be gone, Wally would restrict himself to the state of Rhode Island. As frustratingly tiny as the state was, he could at least do that if he was going out alone.

Wally pulled his best running shoes back on – the 'obnoxious yellow monstrosities' that Dick disliked and that Roy had gotten him for his birthday – and zipped to the door, straining to see the control panel in the dark. He tapped in the unlocking code and the door slid open with a soft noise, revealing the dark, almost black walls of the hallway. Wally tried to zip out the door.

 _"Huwaagh!"_ he tripped over something big and went crashing to the floor with a smack. Wally hefted himself onto his side and looked up when whatever he'd tripped over gave a startled grunt and stood up. He strained to see what it was, and tried to force his eyes to adjust more quickly to the dark.

"You okay?" a quiet voice asked from the shadows.

"What the- _Conner_?" Wally whispered, getting to his feet and poking his head back into his room for a second to see if all the noise had woken Dick. It hadn't. He shut the door and turned back around to face his teammate. "What are you doing out here?"

"Sleeping," the half-Kryptonian offered awkwardly.

"Outside my room?" Wally cocked his head in confusion. He could just barely make out his friend's outline in the darkened hallway. Conner shifted uncomfortably and nodded.

"I…wanted to make sure you were okay."

Wally eyes widened in surprise as he realized what he meant.

Conner had been standing guard outside of his door.

He felt an odd tightening in his chest as Conner took his arm and pulled him out of the hallway and into the dimly lit common room that was attached to the kitchen. Once there was sufficient lighting, they came to a stop, and Conner turned Wally to see him better. Then, his eyebrows turned downwards in concern.

Wally suddenly thought about what he must look like: soaked with sweat, pupils still dilated from fear, face streaked with tears. He wiped at his eyes furiously and looked up at Conner as calmly as he could, trying to avoid his friend's clear blue eyes.

Conner could have given him a pity-filled look. He could have pulled Wally into an awkward hug and said something empty and generic and comforting. He could have confronted him about the tears and demanded that Wally tell him about the nightmare.

Instead, he went to the fridge and pulled out the leftovers from a lasagna that M'gann had probably made the night before. Conner put the whole thing in the microwave, knowing full well that there was no point in cutting out just one slice, or even five, for a speedster. He set the pitcher of sweet tea that no one but Wally really ever drank on the counter. Max had introduced Wally to the magic of southern sweet tea a few years ago, and he'd been hooked ever since. Most of the others complained that it had way too much sugar in it, though.

Wally gave a shaky sigh of relief that Conner had to have heard but was kind enough to pretend that he didn't. He trudged his way over to the counter and sat down on one of the barstools surrounding the center island with the sink. He finished drying his eyes while Conner's back was turned and quickly checked the time on his wristwatch. Midnight. Well, four hours of sleep in a row wasn't too bad for him lately. Wally kept his eyes glued to the counter, only looking up when the whole container of steaming leftovers was placed in front of him along with a cup and a fork.

Suddenly famished, Wally dug into the homemade lasagna while Conner poured them both cups of tea. The half-Kryptonian took a few bites of the leftovers right out of the ceramic cooking dish and appeared to be thinking hard while he chewed, though he didn't say anything until they'd both polished off the lasagna and a few slices of cold garlic bread. Wally was already feeling a little better – calmer – with the intake of food and sugar.

"You know a lot of Green Lanterns."

Wally was startled by the sudden statement. He'd been overwhelmingly relieved when Conner didn't mention the fact that he'd been crying, but he'd honestly expected him to say _something_ about it. "Yeah…um, Green Lanterns and the Flashes have always been pretty tight, I guess. I met a lot of them through my uncle."

"Would you ever want to be one?" Conner asked quietly, frowning just a little like he was trying to work out a puzzle. Wally could relate; he had no idea where that question had come from.

"A Green Lantern?" Wally repeated quizzically. He thought about it for a second, then shook his head and made a face. "No, I don't think I'd make a very good one. I'm too scatterbrained. What about you?"

Conner shook his head with a smile and placed his thick arms on top of the counter, "I'm better at other things…"

He trailed off and flexed his muscles once sheepishly, and Wally couldn't help but give a breathless sort of laugh. Conner's smile widened a little at the sight of Wally's own, but neither said anything else for a long time. They just sat together in the kitchen until Wally had one hundred percent recovered from his nightmare and was no longer full of manic energy. He still needed to run though; the cave was making him a touch claustrophobic.

Wally set the empty lasagna dish in the sink to soak and then hopped down from the barstool, earning a questioning look from Conner. He jerked his thumb at the exit to the room and gave his friend a small smile, "I'm just going to get a little fresh air before I go back to bed, okay?"

Conner nodded silently, seemingly satisfied with the plans. He made no move to follow, and for that Wally was relieved.

"Promise me you'll actually go sleep in your own room?" Wally gave a short laugh. "I don't want you to be hunkered down on the floor all night."

Conner shrugged like it was no big deal.

Wally zipped to the doorway and paused, turning back around to face Conner, " _Thank you_. For…you know… I feel better."

The pleased smile that he got in return from the half-Kryptonian was the last thing he saw before he zoomed away through the hallways and straight to an exit that led to a rather small ledge sticking out from the side of Mt. Justice. Wally opened the heavy metal door after he entered his security code and stepped out into the blessedly freezing night air, feeling a mixture of relief and alarm when he felt the wind blow right through his clothes to rush across his chilled skin and when he saw that he wasn't alone up on the outcropping.

Wally instantly fell back into a defensive stance, his heart hammering madly in his chest as thoughts of his father flew into his head.

"I figured you would try sneaking out again to go running by yourself."

His entire body went slack in relief. He could see Roy illuminated by the moonlight, perched on the edge of the cliff easily. The archer glared over his shoulder at Wally like he was bored.

"How long have you been out here?" Wally took in the slushy mountainside and white speckled town below. "It's like fifty degrees."

Roy just shrugged and adjusted his leather jacket and gloves unconcernedly, "Few hours. I was waiting for you to try and make a break for it. This is the only exit with no cameras."

"That's…really creepy, Roy. How did you know I've been going out for runs at night?" Wally slowly walked over to his older brother figure and sat down beside him, swinging his legs out over the ledge.

Roy shifted his motorcycle helmet to his other side to give Wally more room and handed him a second riding jacket that he seemed to produce from thin air, "I have my ways."

"No, seriously," Wally pulled the jacket on and stuffed his hands into the pockets for warmth. "Batman did a sweep on me for bugs and trackers and stuff, and he said that I was clean. So, how did you know?"

"Because I know _you_ , idiot," Roy softly smacked him in the back of the head. "And I brought my bike so I could go with you."

Wally made a face, "Your _motorcycle_? Ugh, that thing is so _slow_. I can just ca-"

"You are _not_ carrying me," Roy ground out firmly. He shot Wally a warning glare, but the speedster didn't get it.

"Why not? I carry Dick all the time."

"I'm not Dickie-bird," Roy said mockingly.

"You don't weigh that much more than me," Wally paused and looked down at himself. "Well, what I used to weigh… Anyways, it's not even hard at all once I get some momentum going."

"It's not _about_ that," Roy growled at him. "You're not carrying me! It's a matter of dignity."

Wally threw both hands up in defeat and bit back a grin, knowing that it would only make Roy angrier. If that was even possible…

"How do you even have time to come here?" he changed the subject, deciding that it _would_ actually be kind of hilarious to try and pick up Roy. "I thought the League was busy."

"I'm on my allotted sleep time," Roy shot back sharply. "Decided to spend it watching you, since you're so determined to be stupid."

Wally bristled, and he retaliated with his very best insult, " _You're_ stupid! Go get some sleep!"

Roy looked over at him and calmly raised an eyebrow, "I'll go to sleep if you go _back_ to sleep and take a pass on running tonight."

"No," Wally sat back stubbornly and crossed his arms over his chest. He was getting _real_ tired of everyone telling him what to do.

Surprisingly, Roy didn't start yelling at him or crumple up his face into the biggest scowl this side of Gotham. He actually smirked at Wally and reached out to flick him in the ear affectionately, "There you are. I was wondering what happened to that spark in your eyes. I was getting a little worried when the only thing I saw from you was this weepy little victim who was letting everyone push him to the background of his own life."

Wally just stared at Roy wide-eyed while his mind sped through the last few months at hyper speed. He was right. Wally had let himself be the victim, and he'd let control of his own fate be taken from him. It had to stop.

"So, where do you want to go?"

"The Salt Flats," Wally responded automatically. That had been the very first place that Uncle Barry took him to test out his speed. It was a vast expanse of flat, barren Earth with no people around for miles. The perfect place for running flat out with no restraint. "It's in Utah."

"Alright then," Roy grinned at him and got to his feet, slinging his helmet over his shoulder. "Let's snag the first zeta tube to Star City and get over there."

Wally was on his feet seconds later, a real smile on his face and brimming with new confidence, "Forget _that_. I'll race you there from here!"

His body hummed excitedly in the face of the new challenge, and he started stretching his arms and legs to prep them a little in anticipation. Central City to Texas had been one thing, but Rhode Island to borderline Nevada was another entirely. It was at least twice the distance, and Wally was eager to beat his previous time for that kind of run.

Roy didn't have quite the same reaction. He frowned at Wally in confusion, "How would you beat me to Utah from here if you were running? Star City is in California. You're not that fast."

Wally froze in the middle of rotating his shoulders, and he stared at Roy like a deer caught in headlights.

Oops.

" _Wally_ …" Roy said slowly, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"Uh…I kind of _am_ that fast now…" he admitted carefully, watching Roy like a zebra watches a lion.

"Since when?" Roy looked angry again at being kept out of the loop. He took one predatory step towards Wally.

"Since I died," Wally stammered nervously. Roy flinched visibly at his words but didn't pause in his approach. "Sorry. I didn't want to tell anyone 'cause I was afraid they'd restrict me more."

"Whose brilliant idea was that? Yours or Dick's?" Roy asked sarcastically.

"How did you know I told Dick?" Wally inquired curiously, still backing away from his brother. He hadn't really _told_ Dick anything since he'd been _there_ when it happened, but he doubted that Roy would care very much about the distinction.

Roy gave him a look like he'd just said something stupid, "You tell Dick everything. So, whose idea was it?"

"Dick's…" Wally sighed unhappily. He needed to stop being so predictable.

"I'll talk to the both of you about this later, but _you_ need to stop following his lead. He's fourteen, for Christ's sake," Roy jabbed one finger into Wally's chest roughly. "For now, let's just zeta over to Star and head to the Salt Flats."

"Fine," Wally smacked Roy's hand aside and strode back to the hidden entrance to the cave. He made another mental note to ignore that particular piece of advice. "But when we get there, you're racing me on foot."


	9. Chapter 9

[Mount Justice

March 22, 07:30 EST]

Dick spotted Wally in the kitchen. He was sitting at the island in front of a huge glass of orange juice, fiery red hair perfectly tousled, green eyes sparkling with energy, and a brilliant smile stretched across his face. Zatanna and Artemis were seated on either side of him, both grinning and laughing at something he'd said while M'gann whirled about the kitchen cooking eight different breakfast foods all at once. She really _should_ be a chef for her secret identity if she ever decided to continue her alter ego of Megan Morse beyond high school.

Artemis was sitting a touch closer to Wally than was normal and had her legs crossed so that her knee brushed his. Over the last several weeks, Dick had noticed the blonde archer's necklines get progressively lower. Today was no exception.

Dick saw red.

He marched over to his teammates and promptly whacked Wally in the head with the melted ice pack that he'd woken up beside – the _only_ thing he'd woken up beside.

The redhead stiffened on impact and whipped around to stare at him in shock and alarm. Zatanna leaned away from them both reflexively, her eyes going wide. Artemis had seen him coming, so she just watched with a smile as Dick hit him again.

"Agh! _Why?!_ " Wally raised his arms to defend himself and planted one foot on Dick's stomach to push him away.

"Do you have any idea how badly I panicked when I woke up and _you weren't there?!_ " Dick hurled the melted ice pack at Wally, and it smacked into his shield made of arms. "And all I could remember was you saying that you 'had to go'! Go _where_?!"

"Calm down!" Wally used both legs now to keep him back. "I couldn't sleep, so I went out with Roy to Utah for a few hours until I was tired again."

Dick was _just_ tired enough, and _just_ jealous enough to wonder if that was code for something.

The girls didn't miss a beat, and they all spoke at the same time.

M'gann moved over to the island, setting down two massive platters of pancakes and bacon. She looked at Wally with concern and bit her lip, "Wally, isn't it a little dangerous to leave Mt. Justice right now?"

"Um…why were you two sleeping together?" Zatanna looked between Wally and Dick quizzically, one delicate eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Zatanna and I would like to know why you two were sleeping together." Artemis grinned, tilting her head to the side. Dick frowned at the sly smile on her face. She thought she was just teasing them both to embarrass them. If only she knew… Zatanna, however, looked genuinely interested in the answer.

Dick opened his mouth to grudgingly respond when something unexpected happened.

Wally lied.

"Rob came over to help me unpack," Wally shrugged, throwing Artemis a withering look. "Then we played video games until he passed out – probably because he couldn't handle the virtual thrashing I gave him."

The girls rolled their eyes at him and went back to their breakfast at the disappointing explanation, but Dick couldn't take his eyes off Wally. The redhead refused to meet his gaze, but Dick continued to stare. He'd lied. None of that had happened. But, why did he lie? They hadn't done anything that warranted a lie to cover it up. They'd just talked, Wally had given him a perfectly innocent massage to help his arm, and then Dick had fallen asleep. Well, the massage had probably been innocent to Wally, but Dick had enjoyed it far too much.

That still didn't explain it though. Why would Wally have lied about it? He didn't have anything to hide, did he?

Dick didn't call him out. He went with it, "Pfft, you _wish_. I totally owned you _while_ I was hopped up on painkillers."

The lie was effortless. He and Wally were already nearly in perfect sync with each other. That, coupled with the fact that Dick had been trained by the _king_ of deception, meant that their story was seamless. It also helped that Wally's brain could sift through a thousand different thoughts a second to formulate the most believable scenario.

But why was it necessary?

Wally half turned to look at him in surprise. He'd probably expected Dick to question him on it or remain silent, not go along with the lie like it was natural. This time, Dick didn't look at him. He'd just revealed that _he_ wanted to hide what had happened too.

Crap. Now they'd just made _three_ different secrets…

"I didn't want to move him because I was afraid of hurting his arm, so I let him stay," Wally crafted his expression into a perfectly normal grin. Then he leaned towards Zatanna and cupped his hand by his mouth like he was about to tell her a secret, "He snores."

Dick shot Wally a dirty look right as M'gann flew up to him and touched his arm in concern, "Oh, that's right! Does it still hurt?"

It didn't. His arm actually felt fantastic, but that didn't stop him from pretending to test its range of motion and giving a fake wince, "Yeah, a bit, but I've had worse. It'll be fine."

He really hoped that was true. Kilowog was coming back today for the real training, and Dick really didn't want his shoulder to crap out on him in the middle of it. Wally had seemed like he knew what he was doing, though, so it would probably be fine.

Dick took a seat at the island across from Zatanna and snagged a pancake from the pile while M'gann levitated over a platter of scrambled eggs and toast. Zatanna rubbed at the back of her head gingerly and started filling her plate, " _You_ may have had worse, but I'm still not used to it."

Zatanna fit in so well with the rest of them that it was easy to forget that she'd only been on the Team for a little over five months. And only three of those had been spent doing missions. She'd been sidelined as well after what happened to Wally, although she'd been in Metropolis when it happened. Once the New Year hit, Zatanna had gone into a bit of a depression over having to spend the holidays without her father. So, the League sent her to a magician ally in Metropolis, hoping that the close proximity to someone magical like herself would pull her out of her depression.

It looked like it had helped.

Never one to be outdone, Artemis abandoned the stack of pancakes that she'd been pouring syrup over to roll up her sleeve, revealing a long black and yellow bruise from where she'd been thrown across the floor. "That little bump on Boy Wonder's head has _nothing_ on this, and you should see my legs – like sixty percent bruised."

Wally leaned forward to inspect the arm, grossly fascinated by the wound that Artemis was proudly displaying. Zatanna looked away quickly, probably just grossed out. Dick had to smile at that. She'd get used to it eventually.

M'gann looked appalled, and she clutched her turner in both fists, "Didn't you put any ice on that at _all_ when you got home last night?!"

"You're kidding me, right?" Artemis rolled her sleeve back down and took a huge gulp of orange juice. "I took an ice _bath_."

" _Recognize: Aqualad – B02"_

Moments later, Kaldur came walking into the kitchen, fully dressed in his uniform and looking grim. He looked at them all in one quick scan, and frowned, "Good morning, my friends. Where is Conner?"

"Still in the shower, I think," Wally said around a mouthful of some awful-looking pancake, egg, and bacon sandwich he'd slapped together with two slices of toast. "He and I stayed up really late last night, so we figured we'd let him sleep in a little."

Kaldur nodded, seeming satisfied with the answer, and took his own seat at the island. M'gann offered him a plate, "If you're hungry, Kaldur, you're welcome to have as much as you want."

"I appreciate the offer," he smiled wearily and shook his head once. "But I have already eaten this morning. Thank you."

Dick really took a moment to look at his aquatic friend. He took in the bone-tired look in his pale blue eyes, the slump of his usually perfect posture, and his bleak expression. "How's Atlantis right now?"

That got everyone's attention, and they all looked at Kaldur curiously. He looked momentarily alarmed at being put on the spot, but just sighed and stared down at his hands worriedly, "All of Atlantis' city-states have mobilized their armies. King Orin has directed his generals to cooperate fully with the planetary defense."

Dick felt his stomach tighten into more knots. He'd known this was serious, but it was becoming more real every day.

"Are you going to have to fight as part of the Atlantean forces, or will you be fighting with us?" Artemis asked.

"With you," he assured them. "I completed my mandatory military service when I was fourteen."

Conner walked into the kitchen then and immediately looked right at Wally. Dick watched him watch Wally in concern, before he seemed satisfied that the speedster was alright. He went to the fridge and pulled out a water bottle quietly.

"Good morning, Conner!" M'gann said sunnily.

"Morning," he greeted mildly, taking a long drink. "Kilowog's on his way…"

Everyone but Wally tensed in fear and stared at him in thinly veiled panic.

"What? How can you tell?" Artemis gasped, taking one last bite of her breakfast and downing her juice.

"I can hear the zeta tubes firing up," Conner shrugged a little.

Less than a second later, Dick heard the mechanical whirring of the zeta tubes and the cave's security system announce an authorized guest. He jumped down from his stool, already in uniform, and moved to the side of the island to wait.

" _Brag su rof elttab!"_ Zatanna said quickly. She and Artemis were magically in their costumes right in time for the towering Bolovaxian to come stomping into the room.

Kilowog gave them all a curt nod, snorted unhappily, and stalked out of the room again, "Training room. Sixty seconds."

The team all abandoned the kitchen and followed after him, save for Kaldur, who pulled Wally aside. Dick hung back from the others and lurked around the corner to eavesdrop on them.

"What's up?" he heard Wally ask cheerfully.

"Will you be joining us in training today?"

"Nah, sorry," Wally sounded a little disappointed. "I can stay for the briefing, but then I'm off to the gym for conditioning. I need to beef back up in a hurry."

He was joking, but Dick could almost imagine him flexing his muscles like a tool. He smiled. Wally had never been close to 'beefy' in the first place. Dick tried to imagine what Wally would look like if he was a bodybuilder. Ugh, _no_. _God_ no!

"You look much healthier already," Kaldur's tone lightened. "You appear to be filling out more."

"Yeah, well, I'm not injured anymore, so I'm holding onto the weight again. My body doesn't have to burn it up immediately for energy."

"I am glad that you are recovering so quickly, but if you would like help, you need only ask. I would be more than willing to assist you with your extra training sessions."

"Aww, thanks Kal." Wally sounded happy, but Dick knew that his friend had no intention of accepting their leader's offer. He hadn't even let Dick _watch_ his training, let alone help. "That's really cool of you. I'll let you know if I need help."

Dick heard Wally's distinct footsteps moving around the corner, and he ran to avoid being discovered. The others were just entering the training room when he caught up to them and forming a semi-circle around the two figures standing in the center of the room: Kilowog and-

"Black Canary!" M'gann cried excitedly, flying right up to their injured den mother and throwing her arms around the blonde in a hug. Black Canary smiled back and returned the embrace with one arm. Amazingly, she was in full costume and standing tall despite the bandages wrapped around her legs, torso, and left arm. Dick had heard what happened to her, but it looked like burns and fractured bones weren't enough to keep her down.

"It's good to see you all," Black Canary stepped back and looked around at the Team fondly. "And good to be back on my feet again. I knew I had to come see how you were all doing when they told me that you let a Green Lantern defeat you yesterday."

Kilowog gave a low chuckle, "Little poozers fought like hell though."

Dick made a face when he remembered the feeling of being tossed around like a rag doll. He wasn't accustomed to being so hilariously defeated and was eager to make sure it never happened again. So, he'd spent the better part of his shower last night devising ways to beat the Green Lantern if they had to go toe to toe with him again today.

"Alright, listen up maggots," Kilowog rumbled menacingly. He waved one massive hand in the air, and a holographic screen opened above them at his command. "Today, I'm teaching you about the enemy."

Centered in the screen was what looked like a freeze frame from a surveillance camera. It showed dozens of humanoid figures dressed in red and blue marching in formation. Each figure was huge, if the doors in the background were anything to go by, and carried a long silver staff of some kind. The image was a little distorted, but they all looked to have the same identical, metallic face.

Kilowog's voice carried over as they all stared up at the picture, "These are Manhunters. I'm sure your mentors told you all about them, so I'll keep it simple. Manhunters are the biggest mistake the Guardians of the Universe ever made. They're defective androids whose only purpose is to rid evil in the universe – by killing every single intelligent being in existence."

Wally came over to stand beside Dick, and he felt a slow burning need to protect the speedster. These were the things that were coming to kill them, and Wally's dad was somehow connected to them. Dick wasn't so naïve that he thought Rudy West wouldn't try anything again. In his mind, it was just a question of when.

And of how many people it would take to pry Dick's fingers from his worthless neck.

"The fact that they're moving around in big numbers like this is not good," Kilowog continued gravely. "The last we heard about the Manhunters was that they were near extinction. This means our information is severely out of date, but it's all we have to work with, so it'll have to be good enough."

The hulking Green Lantern picked up a staff from the table full of weapons that were laid out behind him. It very closely resembled the staffs that the Manhunters were armed with in the picture. He tossed it to Artemis, who caught it with some difficulty and struggled with its weight. " _That's_ an energy baton. It's the primary weapon of a Manhunter. Now, _that_ one's an antique; it was taken from a destroyed Manhunter when they first went rogue. We brought it with us from Oa to show the Justice League, and now that they're done with it, I want you all to get familiar with it."

Artemis finished looking over the 'antique' weapon that looked to be _way_ more advanced than anything they had on Earth. Sometimes it really freaked Dick out how young the human race was.

Conner took the baton next, hefting it up without any trouble and turning it all around to examine it closely, "What does it do?"

"It fires off concentrated energy blasts that can melt steel," Kilowog crossed his arms over his massive chest and snorted. He nodded over at Black Canary, "And they hit with the force of a bullet, leaving you with broken bones and burned flesh…if you're lucky."

Everyone's eyes were reluctantly drawn to Black Canary's bandages. She stared back with her head held high, completely unfazed, and spoke in a dangerous voice, "Do _not_ let yourselves get hit."

"The energy batons are made from the same metal as the Manhunters, so they _can_ be broken, but you'll be wasting valuable resources if you target them. Go for the Manhunters themselves. If you can disarm one, take the baton and use it against them."

"And how are we supposed to fight them?" Artemis placed one hand on her hip and brandished her bow out to the side in frustration. "We couldn't even handle _you_!"

"Yeah," Zatanna passed the baton along, looking worried. "I heard that Black Canary and _Wonder Woman_ couldn't even take one down."

Kilowog snorted again unhappily, "They both held back because they thought they were fighting living beings in suits, and they didn't want to give killing blows. Now, listen up. Manhunters are _not_ alive. They are androids. If you hold back, you will die. They don't feel pain. They don't get tired. Their 'batteries' don't run out. They are _made_ of armor, and they're strong enough to tear the wings off of your Earth aircraft. They are all connected to each other like a network, and they share information through it. That means if one sees you, they _all_ know where you are. Any questions?"

"Yes," Artemis said sharply, annoyed. "How do we fight them?"

"Brute force," Kilowog answered simply and he turned around to face the table behind himself and Black Canary. "And strategy. Take a look at these."

Dick approached the table inquisitively. It held an array of weapons and curious odds and ends. He reached out and picked up one of the five arrows lying on the table. Each one had a different tip. Wally picked up one of the thick bracelet looking things and held it up to his eyes to examine it closely.

"What's this?" he asked, turning the metal loop over in his hands.

"Put it on and press the red button," Black Canary offered, walking over to Kaldur, who had ended up with the energy baton last.

"Okay…?" Wally tapped something on the side of the manacle and slipped the loop onto his wrist. He held it up to her questioningly, "Like this?"

"Perfect," she grabbed the baton from Kaldur, flipped it over to aim, and then fired three energy blasts right at Wally in one fluid motion.

The whole Team moved as one towards Wally, their faces showing varying degrees of horror. The energy blasts hit an invisible sphere in front of him and splashed harmlessly over the sides before fizzling out completely. Wally was standing still with his arms thrown out protectively in front of him and his eyes wide. He looked at them all in shock before glancing down at himself and seeing that he wasn't injured. Wally's face broke out into a huge smile, and he laughed excitedly at the band around his wrist, "This thing is awesome!"

"A shield?" Kaldur approached Wally and took the device from the speedster when he removed it, still grinning like a fool.

Black Canary placed the baton back on the table and smiled at Wally's reaction, "Each shield is good for about thirty hits before it's gone. Now, that's in terms of the energy blasts. You get hit by anything else, and that number's out the window, leaving you to guess the remaining strength of the shield. We tested them with arrows and bullets, and they last a little longer but could only hold up to one or two direct hits from Superman. So, be careful. It's better to assume that the shields only have one more hit left if you're not sure."

"The Justice League and your mentors made these just to combat the Manhunters," Kilowog picked up a small, cylindrical capsule and tossed it to Dick. "That one's my favorite. It's something called the Fog. It's-"

"The nanotech robots that Dr. Serling Roquette invented for the League of Shadows!" Dick looked down at the capsule with recognition. He brightened at the memories he had of the Fog eating through entire buildings when he was trying to stop it. It had been one of their first few missions.

His heart started beating a little faster in his chest, and the feeling of dread that had been a constant companion to him the last few days lifted a little. If they had a weapon like this on their side, it wouldn't matter how many Manhunters there were. They'd be on an even playing field.

"How did the League get her to make the Fog again? Wasn't she forced the first time?" Conner asked quietly, picking up what looked like the hilt of a sword without a blade attached. "I mean, she wasn't exactly cooperative the last time we saw her."

"I'm sure the threat of the world ending was enough to persuade her," M'gann said with a wry, matter of fact tone.

"Dr. Roquette was reluctant at first to recreate the Fog," Black Canary admitted with a shrug. "But the League gave her its word that the weapon would be returned to her when all this was over so that she could destroy it herself. After that, she was more than helpful."

"These weapons are very inspiring," Kaldur set down the odd throwing blades he'd been inspecting and looked up at Kilowog evenly. "But, most of us don't have the training to use them. Miss Martian, Superboy, Kid Flash, and Zatanna are more effective _without_ weapons, so they have never had any reason to learn. I believe that sending them into battle armed with insufficient training with the weapons would put them in _more_ danger."

"It's alright, Aqualad," Black Canary placed a hand on his arm. "Some of these gadgets, like the shields, are for everyone, but the rest are for Robin, Artemis, and yourself. They're upgrades on your current gear so that you can better stay in the fight. The arrows are obviously for Artemis, the throwing weapons will be Robin's, and these are yours."

She picked up the other bladeless sword hilt and handed it to Kaldur, "This is an improvement on your water-bearers. You can still use them to make any hard water shape you want and to direct water like usual, but the insides have been filled with an abrasive that allows you to create a high pressure waterjet capable of cutting through steel."

Kaldur looked at the handle in awe and nodded silently before changing them out with his current water-bearers.

Wally zipped over to Dick's side and elbowed him in the ribcage. He spoke in a low voice so the others wouldn't hear him, "Look at you, all excited over your new toys."

Dick discreetly kicked him in the shin and tried to suppress his grin, "Don't be jealous."

"Your mentors will go over the specifics of each weapon with you later," Kilowog's ring flared to life, and he created a detailed, life size construct of a Manhunter. "Right now, I'm gonna show you how to destroy the enemy. And you have Black Canary here too, who has more experience fighting Manhunters than anyone on your planet."

Black Canary made a face at that statement. She clearly didn't consider it much of an accomplishment but didn't correct him either, "I'm happy to answer any questions you have after Kilowog is finished."

The Green Lantern made the Manhunter construct walk forward with loud, clunking footsteps, "Manhunters are heavy, so you'll have the advantage of stealth. You can sneak up on them, but they can't sneak up on you. Not unless you're _really_ not paying attention."

The bottom of the Manhunter's feet blazed with green fire suddenly, and it lifted into the air easily, "They can fly but need propulsion, so you'll still be able to hear them coming by air."

Kilowog set the construct back down to the floor, "The Manhunters are made of metals as strong as the ones on your planet, so you won't have any luck with regular attacks on center mass."

Several parts of the Manhunter glowed brightly at Kilowog's command, " _Instead_ , you want to go for the weaknesses in their armor. Any of their joints make good targets, and the seams where two armor plates meet are what you want to be aiming for. They're tough, but not indestructible."

The collarbone of the Manhunter construct glowed suddenly, and Kilowog tapped at it with one finger, "Now, you can hack off the head, limbs, and reduce it to scrap metal, but the Manhunter is _not_ completely destroyed until you take out its core. The core is their power source, and while it's not very hard to destroy, it's hard to get to. It's located right here beneath the chest plate – the thickest part of the armor. Don't waste your energy on anything but the weak points and the core, and _always_ go for the kill shot. Anyone got any questions?"

The Team just stared back silently, waiting for him to continue. Black Canary exchanged a satisfied grin with Kilowog and grabbed one of the arrows to toss it to Artemis, "Let's get to it then. Artemis is up first. Everyone else, pay attention. I want you all to evaluate each other and find your mistakes."

They all nodded eagerly and moved to make room for Artemis. Black Canary walked behind them to Wally, who'd hung back. Dick looked over his shoulder at them and winced at the tight expression on his face.

"Wally…" she said quietly, reaching out to touch his shoulder.

He put on a huge, fake grin and dodged her hand, "Yeah, I know, I'm outta here. Big run tomorrow. Smash some Manhunters for me, Rob."

Dick nodded in agreement and watched his friend zoom out of the room towards the adjacent gym. He had his own task, Dick knew, but it didn't make it any easier on the speedster. At least Dick had been able to get Batman to convince Flash to let Wally stay at the cave. He spared one more second to stare after Wally, and then he had to put it to the back of his mind.

He needed to pay attention _now_ and learn how to become a Manhunter killing machine. For Wally. Dick wanted this whole mess over with so he could focus on him one hundred percent. They were all doing their best, but things were slipping through the cracks – getting missed.

Dick and his teammates cycled through turns against the Manhunter. They practiced attacking a stationary, then a moving Manhunter; they watched Black Canary demonstrate her own mistakes and how she would fix them. Kilowog continuously barked out orders and changed the exercise. He had them split into groups of two or three and go after the Manhunter, then charge at it all together. He drilled them on how to disarm a Manhunter and how to fire an energy baton.

By the time they called it quits, ten hours had passed, and the Team was running on fumes. Kilowog and Black Canary released them from training for the day and left to check in with the League and the Green Lantern Corps occupying the Watchtower. Dick made himself disappear before anyone had recovered enough to look for him. He went to go check on Wally, but when he got to the gym, the Flash was already there working out with him, so he decided to leave them be and go home to Gotham.

Dick stepped out of the zeta tube in the Batcave, dragging his feet. Kilowog had run them mercilessly again, stopping only once for fifteen minutes to rehydrate. Every single muscle ached beyond words, especially his arms. He'd spent the majority of the practice throwing the new batarangs, and he'd managed to strain the arm that he'd dislocated yesterday. Dick had _really_ wanted to ask for another massage, but there was no _way_ that was happening – _ever again_.

He spotted Bruce sitting at the cave's supercomputer again and Alfred setting a platter of sandwiches on the console behind him. Dick's stomach growled voraciously, and he found himself stumbling towards the sandwiches like he was in a trance. He grabbed one off the top and stuffed half of it in his mouth without so much as a cursory sniff to try and see what was in it. It wasn't as though it mattered; Alfred's cooking was always magical.

"Good evening, Master Richard," Alfred said warmly before he spotted the ungodly amount of food that Dick was trying to chew at once. His smile disappeared.

Dick swallowed quickly, "Hey, Alfred."

"If anyone were to inquire about the origins of your table manners, young man, I would tell them you learned from a dog," Alfred said dryly before turning to leave. "Or perhaps from Master Bruce. His aren't much better."

Dick laughed and looked over at Bruce, who was rolling his eyes with a stoic, brooding expression on his face. He picked up a second sandwich and all but forced his mentor to take it. Sometimes Bruce would just decide that he didn't have time to eat and so he wouldn't. For days.

"I'm sorry I didn't come home last night," Dick said a little sheepishly. He took another bite of Alfred's glorious sandwich. "I kind of crashed after training yesterday."

"I figured out Robert West's connection to the Manhunters."

Dick abruptly choked on his food and struggled to force it down, " _What?!"_

Bruce pulled up his files on Wally's father, and Dick moved to look over his shoulder at the screen, "I couldn't find the link between them until I spoke to the Green Lanterns of our neighboring sectors. After hearing about the Manhunter attack from our Earth Lanterns, they did sweeps of their own sectors and found Manhunter _cults_ on every single planet that housed intelligent life."

"Cults?" Dick had a bad feeling growing in his gut.

"The Manhunters have been establishing bases on every planet they find and recruiting the populace to their cause," Bruce sat back in his chair and stared at the monitor unhappily. He hooked one leg over the other and tented his fingers together.

"But, I thought all life was evil to them." Dick frowned in confusion. "Why would they want to enlist zealots instead of kill them?"

"To rebuild their numbers," Bruce answered simply. "I looked through West's life again and compared his shifts in personality to what I learned from the Green Lanterns. On all the other planets, the Manhunters were taking in young recruits under the pretense of working to enforce justice in the universe. I think that's what happened to West. He was recruited at age nineteen, and the Manhunter Cult fed him some propaganda about making a difference in the universe and being a part of something great. That's why his personality shifted at that age and caused him to get his life together. He had a channel for his aggression that gave him focus."

Dick's eyes darted over Rudy West's file as his brain connected the dots. It all made sense. "I bet all that really fed his ego, too."

"He likes being important," Bruce agreed quietly. "And becoming an acolyte of the Manhunter Cult is pretty big."

"Did you tell Flash about this yet?"

"I gave the founders of the League a full briefing," Bruce closed his files on Rudy West and the Manhunters and turned his chair to face his protégé. "Flash was on his way to tell Kid Flash when I left the Watchtower."

Dick felt his heart sink when he remembered seeing Wally and his uncle together in the gym. If he hadn't already been told…then he'd know by the end of the night. Dick glanced sideways to the cave's zeta transport and felt an invisible tug to go to it, but he stayed where he was.

"Dick, I want you to stay in Gotham tonight," Bruce spoke firmly, but kept his voice neutral. "Wally needs to be alone with his family right now. The Flash is on duty all day tomorrow, and I want him to have as much time as he needs to explain this to his nephew. Do you understand?"

"…Yes…" he nodded dejectedly, trying not to think about what Wally's reaction would be.

Bruce rose from his chair and placed a comforting hand on Dick's shoulder, gently steering him towards one of the elevators leading to the top level of the cave. "I have five hours of downtime tomorrow afternoon, and I want to show you how to use the upgrades on your gear as soon as possible."

"You can show me right now," Dick offered, eager for something to get his mind off of Wally. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep otherwise; he'd just be tossing and turning with worry.

"You're about to fall over," Bruce shook his head. "I want you to rest tonight _and_ tomorrow. You need a day off."

" _You_ never take a day off," Dick grumbled as they started up the stairs to the manor.

"You're not me, and I don't want you to end up like me," he said simply. "You might as well rest in Gotham. Your teammates will all be with their mentors tomorrow learning the specifics of their weapons and the League's plan of attack, and Wally will be out with Jay Garrick and Max Mercury the whole day working on his own powers."

Dick remembered his refusal to join Wally tomorrow and wished that he'd accepted instead. But, maybe it was better this way. He'd made the decision not to fully acknowledge his not-so-new-anymore feelings for his best friend until this was all settled, and maybe some distance would help him keep that promise to himself.

Wally would be fine without him for a day, right? He'd have Max and Jay with him if anything went wrong.


	10. Chapter 10

[Mount Justice

March 23, 09:00]

It shouldn't have been so surprising. It _wasn't_ surprising. They'd known that Wally's father was in league with the Manhunters to some extent at least. Wally had thought that they'd just needed him for one specific reason – not that he was some kind of Manhunter agent. He didn't know what he'd been expecting Batman to find, honestly.

He supposed that he and Artemis would have something to bond over now – both of their fathers were just complete crap.

Wally drummed his red gloved fingers along the top of the kitchen island. He'd been suited up in his Kid Flash costume for the last three hours, waiting for Jay and Max to get there. Uncle Barry had given it back to him just for today, and Wally had put it on almost the second he woke up that morning. Having it on…made him feel stronger somehow, and he'd really needed it after finding out the definite truth about his dad.

He felt more like himself when he was Kid Flash, partner to the greatest hero on the planet, instead of Wally West - _victim_.

He groaned miserably and continued to insatiably wolf down the remnants of last night's leftovers. He didn't know what was up with his metabolism anymore. One day, he would burn up anything he ate the second it hit his stomach, and the next his metabolism was just like a regular human's. He'd be able to go eight or nine hours without eating and not have to worry about slipping into a diabetic coma.

Wally didn't understand it, but it was pretty clear that whatever was wrong with his metabolism was directly related to his shifts in speed. On the days where he had to eat eight times his body weight, he was slower. When his metabolism was normal, his speed was significantly increased.

But, he had no way to predict the fluctuations or figure out a cause for them. He could only track them and write down everything he did that day in hopes of finding a pattern. So far, there was nothing. It was maddening.

Wally just sat in the empty cave, trying to fill his black hole of a stomach for his run, because the _last_ thing he wanted to do was waste even a single second having to stop and refuel later. He didn't really think it would matter much, though. He felt _slow_ today.

At least Max and Jay were both a little slower than Uncle Barry. It wouldn't be as bad running with them, knowing that _he_ wasn't holding them back. Wally dropped his head onto the kitchen counter; his goggles hit the tile with a clunk instead of his forehead. He just sat there slumped over, feeling his skin _crawling_ with anticipation. Whenever he'd snuck out to run this past week, he'd kept himself restricted to the continental US out of an uneasy combination of guilt and respect for his uncle's wishes. But, today, they were going west to the Pacific Ocean – and there was _nothing_ better than running across an ocean. It was practically speedster nirvana. The immense bodies of water were completely open and clear of obstacles, save for the occasional island, and the surface was perfect. It was mostly flat but just choppy enough to present him with a challenge in the ever perilous game of 'Don't Break the Surface Tension'.

_"Recog-"_

A rush of wind blew into the room, and Wally could sense another speedster zipping to a halt beside him before the computer could even finish announcing his arrival, "Hope you're ready for a dull run, son. Max is being a grumpy old man today."

_"-nize: Authorized guests – A012; A07"_

Wally felt a second gust tear through the room but refused to lift his head from the counter. Despite that, just the presence of the two older speedsters lifted Wally's mood a little.

"I am not," he heard Max say half in irritation. "And if I'm being grumpy, _you're_ being cantankerous. All I suggested was that we take a shorter trip to make it easier on Wally, and you call me a dinosaur!"

Wally couldn't help it. He tilted his head to the side and peeked at Jay and Max out of the corner of his eye. Both elderly speedsters were in full uniform and mock glaring at each other with their arms crossed. Max's costume was surprisingly pristine despite the fact that Wally hadn't seen him in it in a long time. It consisted of navy blue pants, boots, and pointed gloves, a long sleeved white shirt with an open collar and ridiculously long lapels. His mask was a navy blue cowl that covered his whole head with a red visor. Jay was in the original Flash costume: red, long-sleeved shirt with a lightning bolt in the middle tucked into blue pants, red boots with wings on the ankles, and his trademark World War II helmet.

Jay grinned at Max and placed his hands on his hips, "You wanted to take the kid up through _Canada_! He doesn't want to go there."

"What's wrong with Canada?" Max threw his arms out in exasperation. "It's beautiful this time of year."

Jay held up a hand at Max with a skeptical smile. He zipped closer to Wally and nudged him with his elbow playfully, "Don't worry, son. We're going to the tropics. I'm hip; I know what the kids like."

Wally smiled up at the man who was essentially like his grandfather. _He_ certainly thought Jay was the coolest, but he wouldn't exactly describe him as 'hip'. Max didn't miss the smile for one second, and he pointed right at Wally, giving Jay a superior looking grin, "Quit embarrassing yourself. Wally's only humoring you. Maybe you'd actually be hip if you threw out that old Flash uniform and came up with an amazing one like mine."

Jay pulled up a seat next to Wally and clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder, speaking to the younger speedster in a solemn voice, "It's so sad to watch a man's mind start to go when he gets old. He starts saying things that don't make any sense, and the next thing you know, he's dressing up in a disco suit and fighting crime."

Wally started laughing uncontrollably then as Max and Jay went back and forth, playfully insulting each other's costumes. He pushed away from the counter with a genuine smile and swung his legs over to stand up, "I thought we were running today, not making fun of each other's outfits like a bunch of little girls."

Both Jay and Max gave him indignant looks, and Wally just grinned back at them. He was determined to push his father from his mind today, and that's exactly what Jay and Max were trying to help him do.

"Alright," Jay held up one finger, glancing sideways at Max with a mischievous smirk. "We'll get going. But, _first_ , you have to settle this for us: Who's uniform would you want more? Mine or Max's?"

Wally cocked an eyebrow at them and looked back and forth like he was really thinking about it. Then, he shoved his dishes into the sink and sped off before either hero could react, "Uncle Barry's!"

He heard them both laughing behind him, and he continued on to the nearest exit in the cave. Wally wasn't alone for long. Instants later, he felt the telltale ripple in the air around him that heralded other speedsters. He darted to the cave's hangar and pressed the button that dropped the ramp to the outside world.

Max zoomed past him a few yards out and scanned the area while Jay stopped beside Wally, giving him a bright smile, "You ready to cut loose finally?"

Wally almost pointed out that he _had_ cut loose before today, about four times in secret, and also that he couldn't _really_ cut loose in front of Jay and Max without giving away his speed fluctuations. Not that it really mattered today, though. Wally had barely _jogged_ through the cave, and he could already tell that his earlier prediction was right: high metabolism, seeming sluggish to the world around him… He would be slower than usual today. It was a complete bummer, but it would lend to him seeming normal at least.

So, Wally sucked it up and put on his brightest, most excited grin and gave a laugh, " _So_ ready! And, thanks for not letting Max pick Canada."

He said that last part in a low, conspiratorial voice, but Max still looked back at them suspiciously before declaring it safe for them to move out. Jay hunched over and gave him a high five with an equally sneaky grin, "No worries. I know you like to run on the ocean. Plus, the arctic is hell on my joints. And, who knows; it's getting warmer. We may even come across some girls on the beach."

Wally knew Jay was teasing him, and it was deserved. He'd been girl crazy pretty much from the second he'd turned fourteen, and he was a colossal flirt. Normally at a comment like that, Wally would've started imagining something like M'gann or Artemis in their bikinis.

Instead, he thought of the last time he and Dick had visited Roy in Star City. It had been the middle of August, and they'd gone to help the archer move into his tiny little apartment. They'd both _said_ that the visit was to help, but really they'd just wanted to go swimming afterwards – after all, the Pacific Ocean was a lot different from the Missouri River and Gotham Harbor.

And so they'd dragged a scowling Roy all the way to the coast, and they'd stayed at the beach the whole rest of the day. Roy had been stubborn and protested the archer-napping by remaining in his clothes and staying out of the water. Wally and Dick, however, had been fully planning on swimming, and so they'd both worn their swim trunks underneath their jeans.

That's what Wally saw now.

He saw Dick wearing nothing but his swim trunks, completely drenched from swimming in the ocean, stretched out on the sand and soaking up the sun like a cat. He thought about how they were pretty much the same height now and how much older Dick looked since he'd hit his growth spurt. They were both far from finished growing, but Dick no longer seemed like a child. Their two year age gap had never bothered Wally – actually, he frequently forgot that they weren't the same age. That's what he blamed his blindness on. There was no other explanation for how he hadn't noticed Dick's face sculpting, his shoulders broadening and chest filling out, and his legs getting longer.

Jay touched his shoulder suddenly to get his attention, and Wally was pulled out of his musings with a jolt, "Are you alright, son? You looked a little lost there."

"Nope!" Wally straightened up quickly and darted out of the cave towards Max. "I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Someone's anxious to run," Max smiled over at Jay, who was beside them both in a second. "Okay, I want to go over our route before we start."

Wally deflated a little, and he tossed the older speedster an exasperated look, "Did you make an itinerary or something?"

"Yes," Max said seriously, giving him a blank stare. "We're going west."

Wally half smiled at that. His favorite direction.

"I want to run straight across the continent," Max continued. "Once we reach California, we're hooking down the coast to San Diego, and then it'll be a straight shot to Hawaii. I want to fuel up before we hit the ocean. And we'll be stopping every half hour before that too, to be safe."

"If you need to stop at any time other than that, let us know," Jay told him very seriously. "I am not letting you hurt yourself by pushing too hard."

"How am I going to get better if I don't try?" Wally countered slyly, fidgeting in place anxiously.

"You can try on someone else's time," Max grumbled. "Allen has threatened us with bodily harm if anything happens to you."

"Ugh…" Wally rolled his eyes and crossed his arms unhappily. "Uncle Barry…"

Jay started laughing, "Hear that, Wally? No getting so much as a muscle cramp, alright?"

"You know I've managed to trip on _air_ before, right?" Wally chuckled. He'd be the first one to admit that he wasn't the most graceful of beings, but he was getting a little better. Being best friends with an acrobat and sparring with him regularly was helping with that.

Max was still grumbling to himself, "I remember when Allen was so in awe of us that he was speechless. Now, he just treats us like we're his personal babysitters."

Wally tried to imagine Uncle Barry ten years younger and fanboying over Jay and Max as hard as Wally had over _him_.

"He treats us like _family_ ," Jay elbowed him with a mild grin.

"I miss the respect…" Max grumbled but tossed Wally a wink to let him know he wasn't serious. All the speedsters were on uncommonly good terms with each other.

"I miss _running_ …" Wally mumbled with a smile and a sideways look at both retired heroes.

"Kid's impatient," Max shot Jay a look, but Jay was already launching himself forwards in a sprint.

" _Last one to Pennsylvania's not a metahuman!_ " the grey-haired speedster shouted.

Wally felt a huge spike of elation rip through him, and he tore off after Jay immediately, slicing through the air like a knife. His senses sped up to match his gait, and he experienced the world rushing past him with sharpened clarity. There was no blurring of the landscape or struggle to keep up with the various obstacles in the way. Wally burned across Happy Harbor, easily dodging trees and circumventing buildings. He sidestepped people and cars that moved so slowly to him that they almost seemed to be standing still.

 _This_ was the best feeling in the world. Wally felt his heart hammering wildly in his chest, and the wind buffeting him with the force of a tornado, and the _power_ in his legs as he raced after Jay, who was only a couple hundred feet in front of him. Wally bridged the gap in a second and zipped right by the older speedster, lightly slapping him on the back, "Tag! You're it!"

Jay took a swipe at him, but Wally ducked under his arm and pulled ahead out of his reach. He zeroed Happy Harbor First National Bank in his sights and ran straight up the side of the three story building. Jay chased him across the roof and down the other side. Wally felt the other speedster closing in on him, so he sprang off the wall at the last few feet, landed in a roll, and was back on his feet with a lead of several meters. He could hear Jay laughing appreciatively behind him.

"Good moves, Kid!"

Wally just grinned at him over his shoulder and pumped his legs faster against the pavement. An exhilarated laugh bubbled up in his chest, and he just couldn't keep the stupid grin off his face. His mood skyrocketed, and all worries and thoughts of his dad were left behind in the dust. This was what he needed.

They sprinted full out, getting faster and faster as the miles piled up behind them. Rhode Island turned into Connecticut, and Connecticut turned into New York. Wally and Jay spent the first fifteen minutes horsing around and playing a game of high-speed tag over three states. Jay even managed to drag Max in once by tagging him in the face. After that, Wally had trouble breathing from laughing so hard at Jay and Max's running wrestling war. They decided to kick up the pace a few hundred miles an hour, and Wally began to feel the strain much sooner than usual.

His eyebrows turned downwards in concentration, and he grit his teeth, pushing through the mild burning in his muscles and the hollow feeling in his stomach. A few seconds later, he started to lose the lead as his companions continued to increase the speed and Wally was unable to run any faster.

He'd hit the wall on his powers.

Much sooner than ever before.

Wally lost his concentration for half an instant as a terrifying thought slammed into him. When his speed fluctuations first started, he was only getting faster. He'd almost allowed himself to believe that he would be on Uncle Barry's level if it continued, but now he was getting the flipside. What if he was going to continue to get slower until his speed was gone entirely?

Just like his nightmare.

Wally's foot hit a raised tree root sticking out of the ground, and he went stumbling forward, almost smacking face first into a towering Pine before he caught himself and slowed enough to regain his footing. Both Jay and Max saw the slip up and zipped over to him immediately. Jay grabbed Wally's arm and pulled him to a stop right in the middle of the forest preserve they were cutting through.

"Whoa there, Roadrunner," Jay took Wally's shoulders and turned him to see his face better. The older speedster's blue eyes were full of concern. "What happened? Is it your powers? – Or something you saw?"

Wally was about to open his mouth to tell him that he'd just tripped, but then he realized that he was shaking like mad and sweat was pouring off of him in buckets. Jay wasn't asking about his clumsiness.

Max put a hand on his back and placed two fingers at Wally's jugular to find his pulse, "Breathe first."

Wally sucked in a huge lungful of air and tried to hold it in as long as he could before exhaling in a shuddering sob. Max patted him roughly on the back a few times, "Good. Is it your powers? Does anything hurt?"

Jay watched him intently when he shook his head, still unable to speak. He squeezed Wally's shoulder for support and made him sit down on the forest floor, "You're okay, Kid. Tell us what happened."

The words still wouldn't come out, so Wally just focused on breathing steadily while Max continued to feel for his heartbeat.

"I think you're having a panic attack," he concluded grimly. "It'll pass. You're fine. Just keep breathing, and stop thinking about whatever set you off. Focus on something happy."

How the hell was he supposed to do that?! His entire world was crumbling around him. If he lost his speed… He-he'd lose part of _himself_ – a _huge_ part of himself. Wally _needed_ his powers. It had been the only thing he could take comfort in when his life was spiraling massively out of control. Oh God – he'd have to quit being a superhero! He'd –

"I said think something happy," Max gave him a small shake when it became apparent that Wally hadn't heeded him at all.

"Think about Iris and Joan," Jay offered him a reassuring grin. "We're all meeting up with them tonight for dinner, and you know they can't wait to see you. Think about how much they love you."

Wally closed his eyes and imagined his aunt Iris and his surrogate grandmother. He thought about his aunt's pretty smile and the way she would laugh whenever he and Uncle Barry had some ridiculous story to tell her about their encounters with Central City's Rogues. He thought about how encouraging Joan _always_ was whenever Wally told her how he'd screwed up his part in a mission or had gotten into a petty little fight with Dick that would be over in a matter of hours once one of them caved and called the other to apologize.

Oh, Wally thought suddenly. He just needed to think about Dick. His heart rate calmed somewhat, and the rising hysteria seemed to slow a bit. Jay and Max watched him warily while he collected himself.

But then he went and blurted out, "I think I'm losing my powers!"

Jay's eyes went wide and Max looked gobsmacked for an instant. Wally just sat there, chest heaving like crazy and staring up at the older speedsters in terror.

Until Max frowned at him in confusion, "You can't lose your powers, Wally. They're written into your DNA."

"But I'm getting slower!" Wally insisted, still in the throes of panic. "I can feel it!"

Jay tried to calm Wally down with a relaxed smile, "Your powers are fine."

As if to contest that statement, Wally's stomach throbbed with hunger pains.

"I've been telling you for years that it's all in your head," he continued. "You just need to stop obsessing over being slower than Barry."

Wally threw him a miserable, defeated sort of look, and his stomach growled furiously.

"Why don't we go ahead and stop off for something to eat while we're here," Max stood up straight and pulled Wally to his feet. "You and Jay figure out where you want to go, and I'll check in with Barry."

"Check in?" Wally groaned quietly. He was still trying to recover from his mini meltdown.

"He's been a nervous wreck about today," Jay leaned in to whisper confidentially. "Don't tell him we told you. He's upset that he couldn't come with you on the run, so we told him we'd check in with him every hour or so and give him a status update."

"He's such a mother hen," Wally kept breathing in deeply.

"Yeah," Jay laughed, slinging an arm around Wally's shoulders. "It's just because he cares. _Now_ , let's think of where to grab some grub. I'm thinking Philly. Hands down."

Wally perked up a little at that, "Cheese steaks?"

"Now you're thinkin," Jay winked at him.

Max zipped back over to them a second later, turning off the communicator that Uncle Barry must have lent him. He'd clearly overheard their short conversation, "We are _not_ running to Philadelphia. It's all the way down state, and Johnny is going to think we're encroaching on his turf."

"Oh, Johnny's not territorial," Jay waved off Max's concern. "And we can't come through Pennsylvania without getting some Philly cheese steaks. It's just not done!"

"It's done every day," Max said dryly, giving Jay a withering look.

Jay elbowed Wally lightly, and he got the hint. Wally looked up at Max with big eyes and a silent smile. Jay joined him in giving Max the puppy dog look, and they both sidled closer to the reluctant speedster. Max held up pretty well against them for a few seconds, and then he caved.

"Fine," Max sighed unhappily, turning south. "But, just know that you are both _too old_ for the puppy dog face. You look ridiculous."

He sped off, taking the lead, and Wally and Jay high-fived before following after him.

They made it to Philadelphia in good time and took a brief, ten minute rest in the middle of the city. The three costumed heroes very quickly attracted a small crowd that gathered around the small sub shop that Johnny had told them was the best in the city, right after he gave them a quick hello and goodbye on the radio. Fifty cheese steaks later, and a few autographs, and they were back on route thanks to Max's insistence that they needed to keep to the loose schedule he'd given to Uncle Barry.

The food helped refuel Wally enough that he was able to make up the lost time in Max's plan and run the entire way nonstop to Chicago. They gave Barry another check in – Wally got to talk to him for a minute and reassure his uncle that he really was alright and that he totally understood that he had important League business that he couldn't get out of, scarfed down a few pizzas, and headed out further west. The trip got easier as they got away from the densely populated cities of the eastern US.

Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska were great - nothing but cornfields and prairie land for miles. They hit a few late winter/early spring storms along the way that got pretty nasty, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. If Wally could run on ice with little difficulty, he could handle severe weather just fine. Central and Keystone Cities were smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley, after all. He and Uncle Barry had to fight the rogues in the rain and lightning all the time. Captain Cold and Heatwave rarely canceled their schemes on account of a little drizzle, and Weather Wizard was _never_ more tenacious than when it was storming.

They made another pit stop in western Nebraska to check in again, and Wally spoke to Joan when Jay called her to let her know how they were doing. She congratulated him on being able to run so far so soon and dropped in an innocent little comment about how it would impress a certain young hero. Max and Jay hadn't understood it, because they hadn't been there, but Wally remembered very well. He went red and fell silent the rest of the break and most of the run that followed, spending the long stretch to California in deep thought. The morning he'd found out that his dad had escaped the Watchtower, Joan had walked in on him and Dick talking, or rather hugging. She'd gotten the wrong idea – the _completely_ wrong idea – and then she'd sat Wally down and given him the talk.

Wally just kept running across the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, trying not to think about what Joan had said and yet unable to keep it out of his mind. She'd thought that he and Dick were _together_ , which was ridiculous. They were just bros…right? Dick was his best friend…whom he happened to be having weird thoughts about lately.

Like that whole half-naked on the beach thing. And the massage…God, why had he lied about it to the Team? Now, Dick probably thought there was something weird about it, even though Wally totally hadn't meant there to be at the time.

Wally chewed at his lip absently, staring straight ahead at Max and Jay, who were setting the pace so that he wouldn't feel bad about being slower. When he'd tried to deny it, Joan had just smiled at him and said that it was completely okay for them to have feelings for each other. Wally didn't remember word for word what he said in response to _that_ , but it hadn't been anything coherent. Joan just gave him a tight hug and told him that he didn't have to tell her right away. He could take his time.

Take his time with _what_?! They weren't like that with each other! Dick liked girls – probably _Zatanna_. Ugh. And Wally liked girls. End of story.

But, Wally was still having weird thoughts about Dick.

Maybe it was the fact that he and Dick were so close. Or maybe it was the hormones. This was the age that they went crazy, wasn't it? Maybe all of Dick's qualities just happened to be what he'd want in a girlfriend. And maybe that's what was tricking his hormones into making him think Dick was attractive.

It certainly wasn't the sapphire blue eyes that he only got a glimpse of if they were holed up in his room at Mt. Justice or if Wally was allowed to stay the night at Wayne Manor. It wasn't Dick's ink black hair, which made him look dark and gave him a mysterious air. It wasn't his mischievous nature or the fact that he had so much fun fighting criminals that he couldn't help laughing during missions. And Wally _definitely_ wasn't attracted to how graceful the young acrobat was or how his lithe body could be both quick and powerful at the same time.

But, man, it was his _mind_ that Wally loved the most. Dick's intelligence and his razor sharp wit were Wally's favorite things about the younger hero. He was only fourteen and already a better tactician than most of the Leaguers twice his age. He was loyal to a fault and had somehow managed to keep his spirit burning bright even after all the horrible things he'd seen. Wally knew that Dick was there for him whenever he needed him and always had his back. It sounded a little dramatic, but Wally knew that they'd give their lives for each other in a heartbeat.

Wally couldn't ask for a better best friend. He couldn't imagine a better _person_. Dick was just…perfect. He always knew what to say and what to do, and he _never_ lost his cool.

Without warning, a hand suddenly grabbed Wally's arm and pulled him to a quick stop, "Jeez, Kid! Slow down!"

Startled, Wally almost lost his balance again. He tripped over his own feet and would have eaten dirt hard if Max hadn't kept him from falling. He let Max pull him upright and then pushed his goggles up onto his forehead, "What's up?"

Jay blurred to a halt beside them, and both older heroes looked at him with wide, shocked eyes. Wally stared back just as surprised.

"What?" he repeated.

Jay recovered first, "Getting slower my hindquarters! Kid, you were bookin' it!"

"Do you have any idea how fast you were going?" Max still gripped his arm like he thought Wally would take off again. "You passed Jay and I like we were crawling, and then you were just gone. We almost couldn't catch up to you."

Wally didn't say anything. He just looked at both speedsters in confusion and listened to the waves rushing up onto the beach behind him.

"We thought maybe something had spooked you and made you take off like that, but you wouldn't answer us when we kept calling after you. It was like you couldn't hear us," Jay said with a worried smile. "But, when we _did_ catch up, you just had this goofy-looking grin on your face. So, we let you run until we figured you had to be running low on fuel."

Wally put a hand on his stomach experimentally. Not even a rumble.

Uh oh.

"How long did you let me run?" he asked nervously.

"Almost an hour," Max's face was grim. "We thought you were just going to run right into the water, but you turned on down the coast. We're almost to San Diego. You were going _twice_ as fast as your normal top speed."

Oh, geez. They'd burned right through the entire desert and almost completely down the coast of California, and Wally hadn't even noticed.

"What were you thinking about?" Jay ventured curiously. "You looked like you were completely lost in thought."

Wally frowned. He'd been thinking about Dick. What would _that_ have to do with-? _Oh_.

_Ho…ly…_

Wally had been thinking about Dick! Thinking about his best friend had made him faster! That…That was the variable he'd been missing all this time!

Dick had been with him that first day that he was allowed to use his powers again – when he'd gone eight hundred miles in a matter of minutes! And, he'd been missing most of the nights that Wally had gone on midnight runs to clear his head of nightmares!

Wally actually laughed out loud. Dick was the key to unlocking his full speed.

"He was thinking about a girl," Jay said suddenly, guessing wrongly after seeing Wally smile. He elbowed Max to get him to relax a little. "Look at that face. I bet she's your secret girlfriend, huh?"

The smile disappeared from Wally's face, and he felt his insides turn to jelly. Jay thought he was lovestruck over a girl. But he was actually thinking about his best friend. Suddenly, Wally imagined what it would be like if Dick was his girlfriend – er… significant other. His face heated up unbidden, and his heart ached in a _very_ weird way.

Then, it hit him. Wally had it bad for his best friend. He totally _was_ attracted to him for all those reasons!

_Crap._

He could never tell Dick. They'd slept in the same bed before. A _lot_. Like practically every night when he was on the Watchtower recovering in the med bay. And, oh God, they'd _cuddled_! How had he been so blind the last few months?! Oh, man, they'd changed in the locker room together before! Ahh! And Wally had practically forced Dick into that massage! Dick was going to think he was some dirty, best friend molesting perv!

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.

Why was this happening to him?! What the hell kind of person turned gay overnight and then got the hots for their best friend in the middle of an alien robot invasion?! Well, not completely gay…he certainly didn't think Conner was good looking. _Well_ , he could see how someone _else_ could see that Conner was handsome. He just _wasn't_ to Wally.

He tried thinking about Kaldur. Nope. Then Roy. Oh, ew, _no!_ Roy was like his big brother. Too weird. Okay, who else? Uh… Hal maybe? _Ugh!_ _Weirder!_ Someone he didn't know personally then…. Wally thought about some of his male classmates. Nothing. He imagined several famous actors widely reported to be hot. Not even a little…

What the hell? Wally tried thinking about Artemis and M'gann, both of whom he _had_ wanted at some point. Badly. He floundered to feel something for either of them and came up empty once more. They were both gorgeous but held no appeal to him anymore beyond that.

So…what did that make him if he was only interested in Dick? Dick-sexual? That sounded _super_ gay.

"I think you broke him," Wally heard Max mutter, and he realized that he'd been just standing there staring into space with a horrified look on his face.

He shook himself mentally and looked right at Max and Jay with as normal an expression as he could muster. He could deal with the fact that he was in love with his best friend later – when he was _not_ with his two speedster grandparents. Wally cringed. Not love. It was _way_ too soon for that, speedster or not. He only lo- _liked_ …. _later_. He'd deal with it later.

"No, he's just embarrassed," Jay hooked an arm around Wally's shoulders.

Wally shrugged him off, face flaming red, "Can we just go?"

Jay laughed, and Max seemed to relax at his evasiveness, "Alright. We'll go the rest of the way to San Diego, and then we're stopping for a few minutes. I want you to eat as much as you can before we head out on the water, okay? There are a few small islands that we can stop at along the way if there's an emergency, but I want to play it safe."

"You got it," Wally said without hesitation, eager to get going again.

Max ran off, taking the lead without another word, but Jay leaned in to Wally with a devious sort of grin. "You can tell me all about her when we get to Hawaii."

Wally didn't answer. He just gave Jay a horrified sort of look as a response and took off after Max.

No. He really couldn't.

The three of them reached San Diego in minutes. They looked around a little for a place to grab some food before the locals directed them to a small Mexican place that looked like it was family owned. Within seconds, the place was swamped with people taking pictures and videos of them, and asking for autographs and telling them that they absolutely _had_ to try something called a California burrito. This turned out to be extremely true. It was freakin amazing – they put French fries in it! Wally _had_ to bring one back for Dick to try.

Whoa. No thinking about Dick. Not right now.

They ate quickly and talked with the other diners in the restaurant, who absolutely _refused_ to let the trio pay for their own meals, and made promises to stop by again on their trip back home. Then, they were off, running southwest for the coast.

And Wally was free. He flew over the water as fast as he could, only needing a few seconds to adjust to the unusual terrain. The surface was solid because of the speed he was going, but not as solid as the ground. It was constantly moving and cresting into waves and only got more uneven as he ran further out into the ocean.

But, it was _fun._ The waves seemed to be frozen in time as Wally swerved around them, ran up the taller ones like he would a building, and leapt over the shortest ones. He and Jay started their game of tag up again, only this time it was a bit more precarious. One wrong move would send them skidding across the surface and into the water. If that happened, it was extremely tricky to get back onto the surface again. Wally hadn't mastered it yet. Heck, Uncle Barry couldn't even do it.

So, they were a _little_ careful. Wally smacked Max on the arm, still trying to get him to join in even though the old man was being stubborn about it, and looked over his shoulder to grin tauntingly at him. He saw their wakes crashing into one another as they sped along, leaving long trails in the water.

Now in the lead, Wally abandoned the game for a few minutes and sprinted flat out as fast as he could. He lifted his head to the wind and closed his eyes behind his goggles, reveling in the feeling. His hair whipped around wildly, slightly damp from the ocean's spray. Wally couldn't stop the huge grin from spreading across his face, and he took in a deep whiff of the briny air. This was perfect. The sky above them was crystal clear, they'd long since passed any ships lingering in the water, and they weren't even halfway there yet. Wally felt like he could run forever.

Jay charged up behind him when he was least expecting it and tagged him right on the back. Wally heard Max laughing at him for being caught, and shot him a half-hearted glare before giving chase. Jay circled around in a wide arc and snuck up behind Max again, tagging him with a laugh before joining Wally in running away.

It was a testament to how strange Wally's life was that he didn't think anything about two ninety-year-old, retired heroes being better than him at tag.

And, Max was _fast_. When he finally snapped and came after them, it took everything Wally had to stay out of his reach. Max eventually got him though, and Wally passed it onto Jay, who went right after Max again. Wally grinned and watched both older speedsters running in front of him, laughing like kids. He hung back a bit to stay off their radar.

That's when he felt it.

The air around him rippled suddenly, and Wally frowned as a shiver worked its way up his spine. Weird… That usually only happened when other speedsters were around. Wally looked side to side in confusion, but there was nothing there. Just open ocean.

It happened again.

Wally turned to glance back at the open expanse of water behind him and almost jumped out of his skin when two white and blue streaks flew right past him not five feet away. He blinked frantically to try and see what they were, but they were moving too fast. Then, he felt his heart seize up when he saw that they were heading straight for Max and Jay.

" _Look ou-!"_ he tried to shout.

One of the blurs collided with Max and sent the older speedster crashing into the water. Jay dodged just in time and switched direction on a dime to avoid the attack. Wally saw both blurs come to a stop _on top of the water_ right where Max had disappeared beneath the waves.

The blurs had come from two massive, heavily muscled men dressed head to toe in matching blue costumes with a wide, white stripe running down the middle. They were both wearing strange metal boots that glowed at the soles.

Wally watched them in alarmed disbelief for almost an entire second before gritting his teeth in anger and charging right at them.

"Kid!" Jay called, looping back around to retaliate. "Get out of here!"

Both newcomers whipped their heads over to Jay and blurred as one as they leapt after him with amazing speed.

Wally groped for his goggles and quickly pressed the emergency S.O.S. signal that Uncle Barry had installed in them. It would send an alarm right to him and to the Watchtower, transmitting his immediate location every few seconds, essentially turning the goggles into a homing beacon. He pressed the communicator in his ear.

"Kid Flash to _anyone_! I need help like right now!" he shouted furiously, still heading for the disturbed surface where Max had gone down. "We're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and-"

The air rippled again and Wally ducked instinctively. He missed whatever had gone for his head, but it clipped his goggles and ripped them from his face. Wally cried out and darted to the side, looking behind him to see a _third_ newcomer chasing him. This one was female with thick, wild red hair and the same costume as the other two. She wasn't even a foot away.

Wally dodged again when she rocketed a fist at his spine. He feigned a dash to the left and pulled back for an instant when she fell for it. Wally grabbed her arm and jerked it violently behind him, still running as fast as he could. She gave a harsh scream of pain when she hit the surface, and Wally could see her tumbling across it out of the corner of his eye.

He heard Jay yelling again for him to run and ignored him. There was no _way_ he was leaving Max and Jay to save his own skin. Not ever. Especially not when they were fighting three speedsters they'd never seen before. And they _had_ to be speedsters. They moved too insanely fast to be anything else.

When he reached the spot that Max had disappeared, he slowed down enough to prevent a _very_ painful clash with the surface, and then he dove into the water. His momentum carried him down like a torpedo, and he plunged into the depths, scanning the dark water frantically for Max. He couldn't see him anywhere. Wally swam down deeper, trying to feel around for movement.

There!

Wally saw a trail of bubbles floating to the surface. Max was struggling to propel himself up with just his arms. Something was wrong. He swam closer and saw the faint outline of Max through thin clouds of blood in the water. Wally grabbed Max's arm and immediately started kicking his legs rapidly to bring them back up to the surface. His stomach clenched suddenly when he saw Max's right leg bent at an odd angle below the knee. Wally just focused his gaze up at the bright light above them and kept swimming as fast as he could.

This was _really_ bad. Water was _not_ Wally's best element. He was about to be a sitting duck once they broke the surface. He had no way to get running again, and even if he did, he still had Max to defend. The older speedster couldn't run with a broken leg.

No way was this a coincidence. These three speedsters had been _hunting_ them. They were somehow able to stand on top of the water, and they'd waited to strike until Wally, Max, and Jay were at a disadvantage.

Wally heard a splash and turned to look to the side in time to see one of the blue and white men come crashing into the water with a mass of bubbles and trailing clouds of blood.

A large shadow fell across the water above them and Wally looked back to see the bottom of two glowing feet standing on the surface directly above him. He reeled back in alarm, but it was too late. An arm plunged into the water, grabbed Wally around the neck, and yanked him out of the water. Wally lost his hold on Max when he broke the surface, coughing violently and trying to see through the stinging salt water still burning his eyes.

A fist like iron slammed right into Wally's face, snapping his head back with a loud crack. He grabbed at the wrist and hand holding him up as pain exploded throughout his skull. Wally forced his eyes open, and the first thing he saw was Jay trying to fight his way free of the second male speedster while the female hit him repeatedly – so fast that Wally couldn't even make out her arms. He saw the first speedster climb out of the water, blood streaming down his white cowl from a gash on his forehead that Jay must've given him. He ran to his comrades to help, and Wally watched in stunned horror as the three of them tore at his grandfather viciously.

Three of them…

"Hello, Wally."

Wally felt his insides freeze, and he looked down at the hand closed around his throat. It was encased in a bright yellow costume. His eyes traveled up the arm and saw a jagged red band stylized to look like a lightning bolt wrapped around the forearm. Wally felt the air in his lungs rush out in a strangled spasm of fear. The arm led to a yellow clothed shoulder and then a chest with a logo splashed across the center.

A red lightning bolt over a black circle.

Wally looked into the face of a fourth speedster and saw what looked like the exact reverse of the Flash. Evil red eyes stared back at him through a yellow cowl, and a manic grin stretched across his captor's face.

Professor Zoom.

Uncle Barry's greatest enemy.

Wally felt a sharp prick at the side of his neck and tried to jerk away. The female speedster walked back into view, holding an empty syringe. She smiled darkly behind her mask and stood beside Zoom, twirling the needle between her fingers casually.

Wally immediately felt whatever she'd just injected him with rushing through his veins. His vision swam, and Wally felt himself losing consciousness. He tried to fight back, swinging his numb legs forward to kick at Zoom futilely and slamming the heel of his palm into Zoom's elbow to try and break it. He vibrated his entire body frantically, hoping the friction would burn the Reverse-Flash.

Zoom squeezed his throat and sank a fist into his gut. Wally gasped in pain and blacked out as the drug took over.


	11. Chapter 11

[Smallville

March 23, 12:00 EST]

Dinah had never had a partner before, sidekick or otherwise. She'd never _been_ a sidekick. She'd worked solo from the day she came on the scene, but she knew what it was like to live in someone else's shadow. She knew how hard it was to strive to be worthy of filling someone else's boots and standing as their equal. Her mother had been the first Black Canary.

Dinah was also intimately familiar with the struggle to control your powers at an age where you're also trying to discover your identity. So, when the League had finally come down with a debilitating case of 'rebellious sidekick', Dinah had been the first to volunteer her services when the call came down for a trainer. She was one of the youngest in the Justice League and felt that she was the best one able to relate to the fledgling heroes making their first bids for independence.

In time, she came to care for them like they were family even though they all had their own mentors – all but Superboy, who should have had the most devoted and experienced mentor of all. Conner had been angry, lost, and confused in the beginning. He'd had to deal with being a clone in a world of originals and had to go through the trials – all alone – of accepting that it was okay. He was his own person. Not a copy. Not a weapon. _Not_ Superman.

Conner had overcome much in his one short year of freedom. He'd shed his old Cadmus programming, dealt with Superman's indifference, and denied Lex Luthor's tempting offers of power. Dinah was undeniably proud of him. She considered herself a mentor to all of the young heroes, but Dinah always made sure to go the extra mile for Conner. She'd even offered to be his mentor full time until Superman came to his senses, if he wished.

And Superman _had_ come around eventually.

He'd come to terms with the fact that he'd been cloned and that it was _not_ Conner's fault. Conner was just as much a victim as he was. After Superman accepted that Conner wasn't his responsibility but was still an amazing young man that was worth knowing, it had only taken a few days before he reached out to the young half-Kryptonian and finally became his mentor.

However, that didn't mean that Dinah had gone away. That was how she'd ended up sitting in on Conner and Clark's training session, glaring daggers at the man of steel as a sort of warning whenever he glanced her way nervously. Dinah was happy that Clark was taking an active interest in Conner, but she had no intention of allowing him to screw it up. Not on her watch.

Mama bears had _nothing_ on a Mama Canary.

Dinah was perched on a fence separating two massive fields on the Kent farm in Smallville, Kansas. She had a confiscated Manhunter energy pistol lying innocently on her lap and was enjoying the warm, gentle breeze drifting across the land. It was finally warming up enough for her costume to be sensible again. Dinah really didn't know what had possessed her to decide on _fishnets_ when she knew damn well that winter was a season and it happened every year. Although, this last year hadn't been _too_ terrible. Oliver had given her a couple pairs of fishnet tights that were made of a special STAR labs material that generated its own source of heat. It had been a very practical and thoughtful gift, but Dinah had her suspicions that Oliver's main motives had been to keep her from covering her legs up all winter.

Dinah probably should have been indignant about that, but she honestly didn't have very much room to complain. She'd thrown just as big of a fit when she found out that Oliver was considering shaving his beard off.

She just smiled and crossed her bandaged legs casually as she watched Clark throw Conner down into the dirt for the eighteenth time in a row. The younger hero rolled back to his feet and charged at Superman head on. Clark moved to meet his rush with a devastating punch, but Conner abandoned his attack at the last second, instead dropping to his knees and sweeping Clark's legs out from under him. Dinah had to smile at that. She wasn't jealous of Conner and Clark's new bond. If anything, she was relieved to see it, but it was still very satisfying to see Conner besting Superman with moves that _she'd_ taught him.

She flicked her feet side to side happily and continued to observe the ill at ease duo sparring. To say that the last five hours were awkward would be a severe understatement. Conner wasn't _great_ with relationships, so he already had that disadvantage. If you added how much he'd resented Superman the past year on top of that, it made for an extremely uncomfortable training session with the Kryptonian. One could easily make the argument that it wasn't overly healthy for them to be aggressively attacking each other for their first bonding activities, but it had to be done. Conner needed to practice fighting Manhunters, and sparring with Superman was the closest thing to it at the moment.

Clark got to his feet in an instant and aimed his heat vision directly at Conner, who dodged easily and went in low for another strike at Superman's knees. He was clearly remembering his training very well, aiming for joints and head shots like he'd been taught, but he was _leaving his blind spot open again!_

Dinah felt her skin crawl with irritation. She snatched up the energy pistol and fired it three times at the back of Conner's head. He was so focused on his target that he didn't even notice the sneak attack until Superman was yanking him out of harm's way and shooting down the blasts with his heat vision.

Hmm… Not the desired effect, but _okay_.

"Clark," Dinah sighed, not bothering to shout even though they were half a field away. She could've whispered, and they'd have heard it as easily as if she was standing right beside them. "You're supposed to be trying to kill him, not saving him from me."

"Sorry," Clark said rather sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck. He and Conner both stood upright to take a break. Conner was giving him an odd look – probably not used to Superman caring enough to look out for him. "That was instincts."

Dinah hopped down from the fence and dangled the energy pistol casually from her fingers as she strolled towards both heroes, "Conner, you're leaving your back vulnerable again. You _need_ to be mindful of your blind spots and make sure that you don't let them become weaknesses, especially when you're fighting multiple adversaries at the same time."

Conner nodded gruffly, brushing dirt off of his jeans, "Yes, ma'am."

"She's right," Clark smiled down at Conner with a shrug. "I used to be really terrible at watching my back. I thought that since I was invulnerable, I didn't have to worry about it. I can't tell you how many times I let myself get knocked out of the sky or thrown into someone before Batman and Flash held an intervention for me."

"Intervention?" Conner asked, returning the smile hesitantly.

"They basically locked me in the Watchtower and told me how terrible I was," Clark laughed at the memory. "That's when I actually started using technique when I fought."

"Why did it bother them so much?" Conner cocked an eyebrow.

Dinah discreetly took a few steps back to give them some room and tried to hold back her smile. It was nice to see them just talking together.

"Well, I think Flash was just worried that one day something would seriously injure me because I wasn't being careful. He's always been really friendly and nice like that," Clark looked like he was thinking hard for a moment. "Batman… I'm pretty sure my fighting style at the time made him cringe, and he just reached a point where he couldn't stand it anymore."

Conner gave a small laugh and then tossed a wry grin over at Dinah. He was probably thinking about how raw he'd been when he first joined the Team. She smiled back and opened her mouth to say something light and teasing when the communicator in her ear buzzed to life urgently.

 _"Kid Flash to_ anyone _! I need help like right now!"_

Dinah felt her whole body tense up in alarm. She whipped her head over to look at Clark, who had also stiffened and was clearly listening to the same thing on his own communicator. Conner seemed to be listening as well with his superior hearing. Wally's harried voice carried over the earpiece, and Dinah could hear him breathing heavily along with another distant noise in the background that sounded like rushing wind.

_"We're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and-"_

His voice cut off right as a loud, supersonic hum drowned him out. Dinah heard the sounds of a violent scuffle and Wally's sharp cry of pain before the transmission dropped out completely into garbled static.

"That's the emergency channel," Dinah felt her body start releasing adrenaline into her system, and she was instantly on high alert.

 _"Kid Flash, this is the Watchtower,"_ Dinah heard Mr. Terrific's calm but urgent voice over her communicator. _"We're tracking your location and sending help now. What is the situation?"_

Dinah waited with bated breath for Wally's response, but it never came. She could only hear faint static coming from his end.

"Kid Flash!" she barked, pressing down on her earpiece. No answer. She looked at Superman for orders, deferring to his seniority immediately.

 _"Kid Flash, we repeat: What is the situation?"_ Terrific asked again.

Clark didn't wait for an answer.

"We're going. Conner, I need you to carry Dinah," he said grimly, the lines in his face settling into a severe expression.

Dinah didn't say a word or offer up any resistance when Conner scooped her up into his arms bridal style. She just hooked one arm around his neck and tried to hold on as best she could when Clark slipped both hands underneath Conner's shoulders and lifted high into the sky. Dinah shut her eyes to protect them from the buffeting wind and tried not to look down. The last thing she wanted was to deal with vertigo when they landed.

Superman flew through the air recklessly fast, almost assuredly heading west for the Pacific. Conner gripped Dinah's knees and back tightly and mumbled something that might have been an apology in case he'd hurt her. She couldn't hear him over the whistling air rushing by them.

However, she _could_ still hear over the communicator just fine.

 _"Superman to Watchtower,"_ she heard Clark's forceful voice booming through the link with an echo. _"Black Canary, Superboy, and I are on our way. I need Kid Flash's coordinates."_

 _"We're tracking him down right now,"_ Terrific said quickly. _"Just keep heading west. I'll give you the coordinates as soon as I have them."_

Dinah chanced a glance at the ground and saw the Earth speeding by beneath them. They were already out of Kansas and passing over what she thought looked like New Mexico.

 _"Come in, Hotshot! Tell us where you are!"_ That was John's voice. The experienced Green Lantern sounded like he was also flying as fast as he could.

There was still no answer from Wally or the first Flash and Max Mercury. Dinah knew that while the rest of the Team was spending today with their individual mentors training, Wally was on a distance and endurance run. Flash was on the other side of the planet in Egypt with the Hawks following up on a Manhunter lead, so he'd been forced to allow Wally to take the trip with two other members of the Flash Family instead.

" _Hotshot!"_

Dinah mentally prepared herself for whatever situation they were flying into. It could be anything from the Manhunter attack they'd all been waiting for to a simple bad storm that the three speedsters had gotten caught in. But, she wasn't naïve. She'd heard the sounds of fighting. Wally and his companions were being attacked.

Superman was already cutting across Arizona and Mexico. Dinah could actually see the ocean rapidly approaching them in the distance.

"Can you see them yet?!" Dinah yelled as loud as she could to be heard over the wind. Even then, she could barely detect her own voice.

Both Kryptonians had no trouble hearing her. Conner's eyes were squinted in concentration at the horizon for a moment, but he shook his head, "No. It's too far."

Clark didn't reply, which meant that it was still too far for him as well. He pushed faster.

Then, the satellite delay finally delivered the messages to the Flash.

 _"Kid!"_ Dinah's heart wrenched at the frantic distress in Barry's voice. " _Answer me! Max! Jay! What's happening?!"_

 _"Watchtower to any available Leaguers,"_ Mister Terrific's voice cut in suddenly. _"Kid Flash's tracker has been disabled. His last transmitted location was in the Pacific Ocean. Exact coordinates are 24.833272,-138.999023."_

Dinah felt Superman shift his course slightly and continue racing onwards.

 _"Kid, I'm on my way!"_ Flash shouted in a frenzied tone.

He was faster than Superman, but it would still take him several minutes to cross Africa and then Asia and the majority of the Pacific. They would beat him there by a good lead. Superman was already over the water and not slowing down for anything.

Dinah looked at Conner to see how he was doing. She knew that he was close with Wally and M'gann and wanted to make sure he was holding up alright.

Conner had almost the exact expression on his face as Clark. His mouth was stretched into a grim line, the muscles in his jaw jumping tensely, and his blue eyes were fixed furiously dead ahead. He was livid.

 _"Superman, you, Black Canary, and Superboy are the closest out,"_ Terrific informed them. _"Green Lantern and Flash are both over ten minutes away."_

 _"I'm trying the private speedster channel, but none of them are responding!"_ Flash said anxiously. His transmissions sounded like they were being recorded on the wing of a jet.

 _"We're almost there,"_ Superman said quickly.

Dinah felt Conner's arms tense in anticipation, and she similarly readied herself for whatever they were about to fly into. The Justice League's advanced Martian and Kryptonian medicine had helped her heal far more quickly than she would have normally. Nevertheless, she _still_ shouldn't be straining herself just yet, but that wasn't about to stop her from diving headfirst into a fight when one of her pupils was in danger.

Less than three minutes later, Superman was pulling them to a stop in midair over what looked like a vast stretch of empty, undisturbed ocean. Dinah saw his eyes burn red, and she knew he was scanning the water with his x-ray vision, searching for life. Seconds later, Clark was swooping down to the surface. He took in a massive breath of air and blew it out at the surface with incredible force. Dinah saw the water buckle slightly and then start to freeze solid into an uneven ice floe. Clark spent another second fortifying it with another deep breath, and then he set Conner and Dinah down on it before plunging himself into the ocean without a word.

Dinah hopped out of Conner's arms and watched as he jumped into the water as well. She tapped her earpiece, keeping her eyes glued to the rippling surface that she could see less than an inch down into, "Black Canary to Watchtower. We're here."

 _"How's Wally?! Is he okay?"_ Flash's frantic voice cut in before Terrific could respond. He was already close enough to receive the transmissions in real time.

Dinah turned in a circle on the gently bobbing ice floe, scanning the area in every direction, "I don't see him. Superman and Superboy dove in as soon as we landed, but there's nothing here above the water."

 _"We're prepping the med bay, but Dr. Mid-Nite is planetside,"_ A new voice said brusquely. It took Dinah a moment, but she eventually recognized the rigid, military tone as belonging to Captain Atom. He must've taken control of the Watchtower's communications. _"Mister Terrific is going to be filling in. He's getting ready for surgery right now."_

Dinah took a deep breath and shifted her weight back and forth between her feet, trying her hardest to keep from diving into the water as well. She'd always been a strong swimmer, but, her current condition aside, she would be more useful on solid ground.

Less than a second later, Superman came bursting out of the water with a broken and bloody figure tucked under his arm. Dinah felt her heart constrict for an instant in fear as she tried to see if it was Wally or not, but the body was too large. Clark landed on the ice floe, sending it teetering slightly, and carefully laid the limp figure out on its back. Immediately, bloody ocean water started spreading out across the ice from where he lay.

Dinah dropped to her knees beside the body, her eyes taking in the sight of mangled and shredded limbs. Both arms and legs were very obviously broken, the left arm was barely hanging on at the elbow by a small piece of skin, and she could see bone protruding through the flesh.

She carefully pulled at the sopping wet costume, trying to inspect the bruised and oozing torso wounds. The long, jagged lightning bolt splashed across the front of the uniform top was ripped and stained with blood, but Dinah recognized it as the first Flash's insignia. This was Jay Garrick.

She shifted closer to his head and pressed her fingers to his neck to find a pulse. His facial features were so bloody and battered that they were barely recognizable.

"I think he's still alive," Clark crouched down across from Dinah and started tearing his cape into long strips. She grabbed one and began tying it around Jay's partially severed arm right above the elbow in a tourniquet. If she didn't stop the bleeding, he _would_ be dead soon.

A hand shot out of the water abruptly and grabbed the edge of the ice floe. Another second later, Conner was heaving Max Mercury's unconscious body onto the ice. Dinah only spared a moment to glance at him before inspecting the rib sticking straight out of Jay's chest.

Superman rushed over to help lay Max out flat. Aside from his right leg, which was broken at the shin, he looked unharmed.

Clark stood back upright and pressed his earpiece again. He very nearly shouted into the communicator, and his voice had that same echo from Dinah hearing him speaking both in person and through her own communicator. "We found Max Mercury and Jay Garrick in the water, but I can't see any signs of Kid Flash."

Dinah tried to smother her feelings of fear over what that meant and instead focused on saving the two retired heroes lying prone on the icy platform. Jay was so much worse off in terms of injuries, and they were running on _no_ time, so she made a difficult decision and abandoned him in favor of helping Max, who had the better chance of survival. She ran across the ice and knelt down beside Max, grabbing onto Conner's sopping wet t-shirt and shoving him towards Jay. Conner had been just sitting there motionlessly, staring up at Superman with wide, shocked eyes when he'd said that he couldn't see Wally. He had next to no first aid training and would only be in the way.

 _"Before Kid Flash's tracker died, it recorded his position as increasing in depth,"_ Captain Atom said quickly after a minute. _"He was sinking. He's definitely in the water."_

That was enough for Superman. He dove back into the water a second time at full speed, sending the ice floe rocking violently. Dinah held Max's body still to keep him from sliding and turned to Superboy urgently, "Conner! Take those pieces of Superman's cape and start tying them around Jay's arms and legs."

Conner scrambled to gather up a long piece of red fabric.

"Look at how I did it and copy. You want to tie it three inches above the broken skin," Dinah placed both hands over Max's chest and started pressing down in compressions.

_"Watchtower to Superman. You said you found Max and Jay. Are there any injuries?"_

Superboy looked up at her, expecting her to give an answer in Superman's place, but she was too busy. She didn't have any seconds to waste. Dinah barked at Conner to keep working before tilting Max's head back and pinching his nose shut. She pulled his mouth open and covered it with hers, forcefully breathing for him. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see his chest slowly rise and fall again. She took another deep breath and exhaled into Max's mouth before sitting upright again and starting a second round of compressions.

_"Repeat: Are there any injuries? Superman, Black Canary, come in."_

When she chanced a glance at Conner again, she saw that he was already working on tying off his last tourniquet.

"Do you know CPR?" she asked breathlessly. Conner looked up at her sharply and shook his head.

"No. Cadmus didn't really focus on teaching me how to _save_ lives."

"That's okay," she called as evenly as she could manage. "I want you to look at what I'm doing. Put the heel of your hand in the middle of his chest, but be careful; he has at least one broken rib. Then, I want you to push down on his chest thirty times. You have to be _very_ careful not to put pressure on his ribcage, especially with your strength. Only push down about two inches. Okay?"

"Got it," Superboy positioned himself next to Jay after he'd stopped his bleeding. He mimicked Dinah and placed his hands on the elderly speedster's chest and then started pushing down.

Dinah leaned down to breathe for Max again before coming up again and continuing. She could hear the Watchtower and Flash in her ear continually asking her to respond, but she ignored them. "After you do that thirty times, I want you to tilt his chin up and breathe for him. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I think so," Conner said uncertainly. "I think M'gann had to do that for Wally on a mission one time."

"Just be very careful!" she stressed to him, trying to convey just how imperative it was that he not cause Jay any more injuries than the speedster already had.

Just then, Superman came rocketing out of the water right beside them with a huge spray. He landed on the ice floe, completely drenched and his hair matted over his eyes, with Wally's red goggles clenched in his massive fist.

Dinah didn't allow his abrupt arrival – or the fact that he was alone – distract her from her task. She pinched Max's nose again and expelled another breath of air into his lungs.

"Superman to Watchtower," Clark only coughed a few times and hastily brushed the matted hair out of his face with his arm. "I have Kid Flash's goggles, but he is _not_ here. Do we have another way of tracking him?"

 _"Negative, Superman,"_ Captain Atom said regretfully. _"The Flash only had that one tracer on his partner."_

"Then, I'm bringing you Max Mercury and Jay Garrick. Both are unconscious and heavily injured. They can't wait for the others to get here." Dinah saw Clark's face screw up in anger, and his fist was in serious danger of crushing Wally's goggles. She breathed for Max one more time and pulled back to start compressions once again.

Max convulsed violently and erupted in a loud, hacking cough that turned into a garbled cry of pain when he jostled his snapped leg. Everyone jumped at his abrupt revival.

"Easy," Dinah turned Max onto his side while the injured speedster coughed out all the water in his lungs. She patted him hard on the back. "Just breathe, Max."

The older speedster finally cleared his lungs enough to draw in a deep breath and he looked up at Dinah and Clark in confusion. Superman knelt down in front of him and took his arm to help him up, "Max, can you hear me alright?"

The speedster nodded and looked around at the ice raft groggily until his eyes landed on Jay. Then, he fought against Superman's hold to try and run to his friend's side.

"Max, stop!" Superman carefully held him in place. "Your leg is broken. I need you to tell us-"

" _Wally!_ " Max gasped when he remembered what had happened, his voice gravelly and hoarse. "Where is he?! Did you catch them?"

"No," Dinah shook her head solemnly. "He was gone when we got here. Tell us what happened."

" _They took him_!" he rasped desperately, and Dinah could see his blue eyes blazing fiercely behind his mask. "You need to find him _now_!"

Max collapsed into a coughing fit, doubling over in agony. Superman acted quickly, slinging one of Max's arms over his shoulder and moving to retrieve Jay as well. "I'm sorry, but we need to get you to the Watchtower for medical attention first. Flash and Green Lantern are on their way. They'll be here in a few minutes, and I don't think you or Jay have that long. I need to move you right now."

Dinah saw Max's face contort into pure rage a split second before he pulled back one fist and slammed it with blinding speed into Clark's jaw, sending him staggering backwards in shock. The speedster shoved him off the ice floe lightning fast, forcing Clark to levitate into the air to avoid toppling into the water. He watched in stunned silence as Max fell to his knees again. Dinah only _just_ managed to catch him before he hit the ice. "He was taken by _speedsters!_ Every _second_ counts for Wally! You go after _him_ first!"

Conner, who previously hadn't stopped CPR on Jay for even an instant, looked up in surprise then.

"I can't. Jay will die if he doesn't get medical attention soon," Clark attempted to board the ice floe again, but Max swirled his arms in circles at the Kryptonian, pushing Clark back several yards with twin tornadoes.

"And, if he survives, I'll let _you_ explain to him why you chose to save him over his grandson!" Max snarled, infuriated to the point that his whole body was starting to vibrate. He shoved Dinah away and jabbed one shaking finger straight at Superman, "Before I blacked out, I saw _Zoom_ holding Wally by the throat. Now, you _will_ go after him first. _Right. Now."_

As soon as Max mentioned Professor Zoom, all the blood drained from Superman's face, and he paused for only a second before rocketing off to search for Wally without any more protests. Having gotten what he wanted, Max went completely limp in Dinah's arms, his face contorting in agony.

"How bad is Jay?"

Dinah looked over her shoulder at Conner, who was still trying his hardest to save the elderly speedster. She bit her lip and looked back at Max waiting silently for her answer. She refused to lie to him, "He might not make it."

Max looked devastated as he let his head fall back onto the ice with a dull thud. His eyes seemed to go in and out of focus, and Dinah looked down in alarm when she felt warm blood pooling around her legs. Max was bleeding out now too! Using his superspeed had sent the wound in his broken leg gushing blood. Dinah tore her jacket from her shoulders and tied one sleeve around Max's knee as tightly as she could. She cradled the dying speedster's head in her lap and scanned the horizon frantically for help.

 _"Flash!"_ Dinah heard Clark's incensed voice booming through her earpiece. _"It's Zoom! He has Wally. We need to split the hemisphere between us. I'll take the arctic and Eastern Asian seaboard; you cover Australia to South America. Green Lantern, continue to the coordinates and take everyone to the Watchtower. You need to hurry; they don't have much time!"_

 _"I'm hooking down to the Philippines right now,"_ Flash growled, his very voice crackling like electricity.

 _"I'm less than two minutes away!"_ John shouted determinedly.

Dinah was rarely useless in _any_ situation, but that's how she felt right now as Max was quickly fading away in her arms. She could hear Superboy still doing chest compressions on Jay, and she wanted to tell him something else he could do that would help, but there was nothing. So, she scanned the skies helplessly until in the very far distance, coming from the east, she spotted a faint green glow.

Within seconds, John Stewart was directly above them, enveloping the entire ice floe in a protective green bubble and towing them out into space without slowing down for a second. Dinah watched the planet growing smaller and smaller beneath them as they flew towards the Watchtower. She gripped Max's shoulders tightly and prayed that his sacrifice wouldn't be in vain…and that they weren't too late.

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[The Watchtower

March 23, 12:30 EST]

Dick was very familiar with nightmares. When he was small, he used to have them about monsters in his closet or under the bed. Normal stuff. Back when his parents were still alive and he was traveling all over the world with Haly's Circus, he'd just cross the train car to his parents' compartment and climb into bed with them. Sometimes, when the dreams were so bad that he couldn't seem to shake them even in the safety of his mother's arms, his dad would take him 'for a walk' to clear his head. That usually meant climbing up on _top_ of the train while it was moving – they never told his mother; she would've had a heart attack. Dick remembered clutching onto his father's arm while they perched atop the speeding train, watching the countryside going by and feeling the wind whip his hair around and dry the sweat from his face. If Dick had to give an average, he'd guess about one or two nightmares a month – _if_ that. He'd been a happy child, and nightmares had been rare and silly for him.

After his parents died, Dick had them every night. He knew that he hadn't gone to stay with Bruce immediately. He'd had to stay with child services in a foster home for something like two or three weeks while Bruce filed for guardianship of him. During his stay there, Dick couldn't really remember how he'd coped with the nightmares. He guessed that he'd just curled up in a ball in the dark and cried.

The nightmares had been different then. He always saw his family falling to their deaths. Sometimes they were in the middle of their act, sometimes it was his father tumbling off of a moving train, and sometimes the very earth crumbled beneath them. The only thing that stayed the same was the look on his mother's face as she fell, her raven hair swirling up as she plummeted and the fear in her green eyes as she watched him watching her. Until she was gone. His nightmares were full of their last moments, the crunch of their bones when they hit the ground, and the split second looks of shock before they were lifeless.

When he was staying at Wayne Manor, Dick remembered handling the nightmares _much_ better. Or rather, _Alfred_ handled them. In the beginning, Dick never had to scream himself awake and sit up in bed, completely alone in the dark. He always opened his eyes to Alfred gently shaking him awake and placing a steaming mug of hot chocolate into his hands. The butler somehow always knew when he was having a nightmare – Dick supposed it was experience from when Bruce witnessed his own parents' murders. He remembered sniffling and holding the mug close to his chest as Alfred asked him what happened in the nightmare. Dick would recount the entire thing to him, and Alfred would listen patiently, no matter what time it was. Then, the butler would lead Dick into the kitchen and let him help bake a fresh batch of cookies for the next day until he was tired enough to fall back asleep. Every now and then, it would be Bruce that woke him up.

For the first few months, Dick was too shy around Bruce still to really take any comfort in his presence. But, as he became more at ease around the man who had taken him in, Dick found that he coped with the night terrors far better when Bruce was the one to wake him up. Back then, Bruce would sit on the edge of the bed, wrap an arm around Dick's shoulders, and just stay with him until he felt safe enough to fall asleep. Dick had always been grateful for those nights, because it was just dark enough in the room that he could pretend Bruce was his father.

Once Dick learned that Bruce was Batman, and he became Robin, his nightmares changed again. He constantly worried about disappointing Bruce and not being worthy enough to be his sidekick. He stressed out so badly about not being good enough that it reflected in his dreams and tormented him all night long with different scenarios of Bruce turning on him, firing him as Robin, or removing him from his life altogether. Dick never breathed a word of these nightmares to anyone, which turned out to be fine. He became more confident, and the nightmares went away altogether for a long time. Years.

Until he saw his best friend broken and bloody on a surgical table. After that, Wally's dead, lifeless body haunted his dreams every night for three months. Especially his eyes. Dick had wondered why his eyes bothered him the most. Maybe it was because they had reminded him of his mother's. Not the color – they weren't the same shade of green. His mother's eyes had been darker, more hazel. Wally's were the brightest, most vibrant green he'd ever seen. Wally's eyes had reminded him of his mother's because of how dead they'd been and how completely devoid of any spark or life.

Dick was actually stuck in a nightmare right now. He was dreaming that he'd been training with Bruce in the Batcave. He'd been practicing with the weapons that Bruce and Green Arrow had developed to fight the Manhunters when a Watchtower alert had come in through the cave's security system. Captain Atom had come onto the screen at Bruce's computer and told them that Wally had been kidnapped by Professor Zoom and three other speedsters. He told them that both Superman and Flash were out looking for them right now but that there was no sign of Wally anywhere.

The worst thing about the nightmare so far though was how real it was. Minute by minute, the dream seemed like it was actually happening. Every detail about the cave was perfect, and Captain Atom's alert seemed genuine. Dick didn't really know the silver and red clad hero well enough to mentally fabricate him, and the desperation and pure anguish in the Flash's transmissions tore into Dick's chest in a very real way.

Oh God….it _was_ real. This wasn't a nightmare. It was actually happening.

Dick followed after Bruce in a dead run. They crossed the observation deck in the Watchtower and arrived at the monitor womb in minutes. Captain Atom had given them the full rundown of everything that had happened in the last hour.

Five leaguers plus a handful of visiting Green Lanterns that knew Wally personally were combing the eastern hemisphere above the equator. Flash was moving so fast that his responding transmissions were unintelligible without voice slowing software. He was frantic. Anyone could tell.

Dick expected himself to be in a panic as well. After all, Wally was in the clutches of his most deadly and volatile enemy. It was kind of a big deal. Professor Zoom was just as fast as the Flash and criminally insane. And he hated Kid Flash just as much as the Joker hated Robin. But, instead of being hysterical, Dick was _angry_. He didn't care that Zoom was one of the deadliest villains out there. He didn't even care that Zoom could run a hundred circles around him before he could even _blink_.

Dick was going to kill him for taking Wally.

Bruce stormed into the monitor womb and marched straight up to the main console. Dick was right on his heels, staring up at the various screens furiously. One screen displayed a geographical map of the Pacific Ocean with nine blinking markers moving all over it. The one labeled Kid Flash was stationary in the middle of the ocean halfway between Hawaii and California. Superman and Flash's dots were darting all over the northern and southern parts of the map while the others were concentrated on Hawaii and the ocean's surrounding coasts.

Captain Atom turned to greet them with a firm nod, "Someone really has it out for this kid."

"You said Kid Flash's goggles were retrieved from the water," Bruce said briskly, not even acknowledging what the other hero had said.

"Black Canary ran them here the second Green Lantern arrived with her, Superboy, and the injured speedsters in the Javelin bay," Captain Atom produced Wally's bright red goggles and handed them over to Bruce, who immediately turned them over in his hands and popped open a hidden compartment. He removed a microchip from the frames and set them aside while he plugged the chip into the console. Another window popped open containing folders labeled audio, video, and GPS tracking. Bruce opened all three and started playing the audio file while he fast forwarded through the video footage that looked like it had been shot from Wally's point of view. Dick didn't know that Wally's goggles had a camera in them – or a microphone for that matter.

He listened to the decidedly light-hearted beginning of Wally's day while Bruce jumped through the video feed several hours and then slowed his searching down when Wally hit the ocean. Dick could hear the sound of Wally's breathing along with Max and Jay bickering in the background while the screen showed Wally's view of the water and his companions moving in fast forward, although it was hard to tell with speedsters. Dick saw them switch the lead around several times and rush at each other all of a sudden – it sort of looked like they were playing tag or something.

Then, Dick saw two blurs rush past either side of Wally and attack Max Mercury. Bruce quickly paused the video and rewound it a few seconds frame by frame until the blurs were actual shapes. It looked like two muscular men wearing matching blue and white costumes that covered them head to toe. Bruce tapped a few keys on the console, and the images of both men were relocated to a second screen. He scrolled to the corresponding time on the audio and synchronized it with the video feed, then hit play.

Dick watched Wally's arm extend into the screen and heard him yell out a warning to the two older speedsters. He saw the two speedsters attack Max and stand atop the surface of the water for a few instants before going after Jay when he yelled for Wally to run. Bruce took a few seconds to replace the pictures of the two uniformed men with better ones that showed their masked faces. Dick heard Wally call out an S.O.S. and then duck as a third speedster attacked him. The camera abruptly went wild, and the world turned upside down. Dick actually caught a glimpse of Wally from the camera, which meant that the goggles had been pulled off him.

The camera jumped back and forth between the sky and the water for a few instants, and then the assailant's finger shifted in front of the lens and partially blocked the video. The screen went wild again, and this time, Wally was in full view of the camera, expression determined and alert. The camera was thrown away from him, and Dick saw the blue and white legs of his attacker right before he heard a feral and very female scream issue from the speakers. The scream was drowned out when the camera submerged underwater. The third speedster fought her way back to the surface with some difficulty and, the camera once again showed a picture of the sky dotted with water droplets. It panned around erratically as she ran, every now and then capturing glimpses of Jay fighting with her and one of the male speedsters.

Then, a yellow blur sped by. Bruce paused the video again to get a screenshot of him and let it play again. Professor Zoom was frozen mid run on the monitor. Dick's eyes burned as he looked at him instead of the video, which was a chaotic jumble again. He glared hatefully at Zoom, eyes roving over his yellow and red costume. It was arguably the biggest insult any villain could give a hero – taking their costume and twisting it into a mockery. The strangest thing about it was how closely it resembled Wally's, minus the gloves and…. Wait a minute.

Dick moved closer to the screen, his eyes narrowing at Zoom's feet. His boots were normally red, but he was wearing dark metal ones here. He focused on the bottom of the boots and noticed that they were glowing brightly. That definitely wasn't Zoom's usual uniform.

The speakers were suddenly playing back much more than the sounds of high speed combat. Dick couldn't see it, but he could hear Jay's grunts and cries of pain along with a flurry of what sounded like fists pummeling a body. Tiny flecks of blood spattered onto the camera's lens. Dick heard a harsh bark of laughter right before the camera was on the move again, and then he heard a dark, manic voice speak.

_"Hello, Wally."_

Dick's blood turned to ice in his veins. That had been Zoom speaking. Professor Zoom knew Wally's secret identity…

The female speedster holding the goggles zipped up right beside Wally. Dick could see half of Wally's torso and his hips. He gave a defensive jerk in response to something, and then the camera turned perfectly. Dick could see Zoom holding Wally in the air by the throat. They were at a crooked angle, but he could still clearly see the look of shock and fear on his best friend's face. Wally tried to fight back and get out of the hold, but his movements were sluggish. He seemed to be losing consciousness but didn't stop struggling until Professor Zoom slugged him hard in the stomach.

Wally passed out and hung limp in Zoom's grasp. Dick heard the battle in the background go quiet soon after. Zoom hefted Wally's body over his shoulder, and he turned to face the speedster holding the goggles.

The camera moved again and provided a view of the woman's hand.

_"Throw those into the ocean. They'll have a tracker in them."_

Immediately, the water rushed up at the camera as the goggles were abandoned. After that, they could hear no more, and the video showed nothing but darkness.

"What is the status of Jay Garrick and Max Mercury?" Bruce asked Captain Atom evenly.

The silver clad hero looked at him grimly and sighed, "Mister Terrific took Garrick into surgery the second he got here. I think Max is still waiting to be worked on."

"Robin," Bruce said suddenly.

Dick gave a start in surprise, but turned to his mentor, "Yes?"

"I need you to run to the medical bay and find out everything Max knows that we don't about these new speedsters. Any detail he can remember, do you understand?"

Dick nodded impatiently, already ready to run.

"Try to get as much as you can before he has to be taken in for surgery," Bruce started pulling up his global database of metahumans. He entered the photos of the two male speedsters into the search area and started the hunt for any kind of match or similarity with existing metahumans. "Every second counts."

"Got it," Dick took off out of the room at a dead run. He tore through the Watchtower's hallways with ease – after spending so much time up here when Wally was injured, he was very familiar with the layout – and was entering the medical bay minutes later.

He was rounding the corner to the waiting area, breathing heavily and heart pounding urgently, when the double doors burst open, and Conner darted out. The half-Kryptonian stared directly at him, absolutely covered in blood. He held the door open with one dark red arm. It was stained with dried blood from the elbow down.

"Is Max still awake?!" Dick panted imperatively. He ran past Conner and paused to look around at the different wards.

"This way," Conner grabbed his arm and led him down one of the hallways at a sprint. "He's awake, but one of the medics is about to knock him out."

"We need information from him first!" Dick cursed under his breath. He ran as fast as he could after his teammate until they came to a stop outside one of the rooms. Inside, he could see Black Canary standing by the door with her arms crossed over her chest and a grim frown on her face. She too was soaked in blood. Her jacket was missing, and Dick could see spots of red dotting her neck and shoulders. Her arms, knees, and shins were the worst though. The blood had seeped completely into her own bandages, staining them a deep red.

Max was lying on a surgical table flat on his back. He had his eyes closed and face screwed up in pain, but he was breathing steadily. A female medical technician was cutting away one of the pant legs of his costume and preparing a needle of anesthetic.

" _Wait! Wait!"_ Dick burst into the room and stumbled over to Max, ignoring Black Canary's and the medic's cries for him to stop.

Max opened his eyes at the commotion and looked at Dick with unfocused eyes. The medic leaned across the table and angrily shoved Dick back, "You can't be in here! I need to work on his leg immediately, or it will heal completely wrong. He's already had his first dose of anesthesia anyway. He'll be out soon."

Dick shoved her right back roughly and shook Max's arm to get his attention, "Max! Batman needs to know anything you can remember about the speedsters that attacked you. We saw Zoom, but we need to know about the other three. Was there anything you noticed about them or anything they said that stood out?"

Black Canary held the medic back and clamped a hand over her mouth to shut her up when she started yelling at Dick again. Max frowned at something miles away like he was thinking hard but kept losing his train of thought. Dick waited anxiously for several seconds, just about to lose hope that he was going to get anything out of him before he passed out.

"Russian," Max slurred, wincing in pain when he accidentally tried to move his broken leg. "I heard one of them…saying… _something_ in Russian before I started sinking."

Dick pressed the communicator in his ear hastily, "Batman! One of them is Russian."

He released the communicator and moved more into Max's direct line of sight. The speedster was losing it. "Is there anything else?!"

"They move- how they move was fast…" Max started blinking rapidly to clear his vision. "Too fast."

"What do you mean?" Dick prompted. "Were they faster than you?"

"Faster than Ba- _Flash_ … But something was wrong about them… They weren't _right_. Didn't feel like real speedsters…. And they could stand on the water."

Dick tried not to lose his patience. Max was clearly fighting against the anesthetic with all his might. "What was wrong with them?"

"They were wild… like animals…but their speed felt wrong too. I…" Max fell back onto the table, looking around in confusion. "I don't…don't know why."

Black Canary released the medic to tend to Max, and Dick darted out of the room into the hallway, relaying everything to Bruce over the communicator. When he was finished, Bruce directed him to stay there in case Max or Jay remembered anything else.

Dick leaned against the wall and held his head in his hands as he slid to the floor. He had to hold it together. Conner came over to sit beside him and stared quietly into the distance. Black Canary closed the door to Max's room and leaned against the wall opposite them both.

"How's Jay?" Dick asked suddenly. Captain Atom had told them that Jay was badly injured but hadn't elaborated beyond that. He hoped that the older speedster would be okay. If not, Wally would be devastated.

Conner stiffened beside him, and his eyebrows turned downwards. Dick watched him in confusion before turning to Black Canary for an explanation.

The blonde knelt down in front of them and put a sympathetic hand on Conner's shoulder to comfort him, "We won't know until Terrific is through. Superboy managed to revive him while we were still in space, so I think he'll live. But…I don't know if his limbs can be saved. One needs to be completely reattached."

Dick stared at her in horror, feeling his body ice over at the thought. Unconsciously, he flexed the muscles in his arms and legs as if to reassure himself that they were still there. What would happen to a speedster if they lost the use of their legs?

"Did they find Wally?" Conner asked quietly. "We haven't heard anything since we got here."

Dick looked at him sadly for a moment and shook his head helplessly, feeling everything crashing down on him like a landslide, "No…"


	12. Chapter 12

[The Watchtower

March 23, 17:30 EST]

The first thing Roy saw when he stepped onto the Watchtower was Dinah, covered in long dried blood, handing the Flash Wally's goggles. Flash looked down at the red frames in his hands with a strange, detached expression. Beside him, Hal was staring at the floor with a mixture of anger and distress. His white gloved fists were clenched and shaking. He turned his head a fraction to look at Flash, but the speedster was frozen absolutely still, his eyes glued to Wally's goggles stoically.

Dinah shifted uncomfortably on the Watchtower's observation deck. Behind her, the planet spun slowly on its axis against a field of endless black. Roy hated the silence immediately, but it didn't last long. The blonde heroine looked at Flash solemnly, one hundred percent in control of her emotions. The only thing that betrayed her was the way her fingers absently picked at the dried blood on her hands and wrists.

"Jay is going to survive," she said calmly, her head held high and shoulders squared officially. "Mister Terrific was able to reattach his arm and repair both of his legs. With the way he's healing already, Terrific thinks Jay will be on his feet and running again in a week. Max will be fully healed in two or three days."

Flash didn't say anything.

"Jay said he tried to keep the speedsters busy so that Wally could escape, but he couldn't get him to run," Dinah said sadly.

"Wally wouldn't have run away to save himself," Hal looked up at the ceiling and chewed at the inside of his cheek unhappily. "Not his style."

Flash's jaw tightened.

"Batman is trying to find out anything he can about the new speedsters that took Wally," Dinah continued quietly. "Max was able to identify that they were Russian, so we're looking into that right now, and we figured out that the boots were the reason they could stand on top of the water like that. We're searching for whoever created them; technological advancements like that don't just stay quiet, so Batman's expecting to get a lead from that."

"Aside from that, the only other lead is Professor Zoom," Elongated Man walked into the room with a massive stretch of his legs. He returned to normal proportions and came over to stand on Flash's other side. "He sort of seemed like he was leading the other speedsters, so we're operating under that assumption. Now, the video and audio from Kid Flash's goggles couldn't help us with determining whether this was just a coincidence or if Zoom is working with the Manhunters too, but Batman and I are thinking it's the latter."

Flash looked away furiously, his fingers squeezing Wally's goggles convulsively.

"Now… there's another problem," Elongated Man continued uncertainly. "Professor Zoom attacked exactly when Wally, Max, and Jay were over the water directly between two land masses. That's…pretty specific. He waited until they were in the middle of the ocean so that there was no land to run to in either direction. That's not even mentioning how hard it is to find three people in the entire ocean. So…he knew where they'd be and when."

Hal perked up suddenly in disbelief, "You're saying someone betrayed them and told Zoom?"

"Max and Jay were the ones who made up the route, and from the sound of the audio feedback from Wally's goggles, they hadn't even decided where they were going until this morning," the red headed hero said reluctantly. He opened his mouth to say more, but that's when Flash lost it.

"Jay and Max would _never_ have betrayed Wally. They would die for him!" the irate speedster growled darkly. An electric current began dancing along his body as he advanced on his fellow Central City hero. "They almost _did!_ "

"He's not saying that," Dinah placed one hand on Flash's chest to keep him back. "Think about it. If no one but Jay and Max knew where they were going for sure, and if neither of them told anyone, then that means Zoom had a means of tracking Wally."

" _How?!_ " Flash threw his arms up angrily. "I was right there when Batman checked him over for any bugs his father might have put on him! How could Zoom be using a tracer that _Batman_ missed?!"

"If he's working with the Manhunters, then they've got technology thousands of years more advanced than ours," Hal said suddenly, looking at Flash in alarm. "Batman may not have been _able_ to detect it even if he was looking directly at it…"

"Without Wally or his costume, there's no way to tell for sure," Elongated Man shook his head regretfully. "We checked his goggles over for the full spectrum: blood, skin cells, fibers, radiation… The whole run through. And we didn't get anything. There's no use anymore trying to figure out _how_ they got Wally, so we put that on the backburner and focused on what we _did_ have instead."

Flash smacked Dinah's hand aside lightning fast and turned on his heel to stalk a few feet away before pivoting and pacing restlessly. He brought one hand up to his head and scrubbed at his brow. His eyes darted all over the floor frenetically like his thoughts were going into overdrive. Roy thought it was unsettling watching someone fall apart at the seams.

"Now, before Mister Terrific cleaned Jay up for surgery, Black Canary had the presence of mind to collect some samples from the blood on Jay's knuckles and under his fingernails. It turns out Jay got in a few nasty hits before he went down. The sea water didn't wash everything away, so we were able to get two foreign blood types off him and confirmed it from the blood on his uniform," Elongated Man went straight up to his friend and tried to hold him still despite the beginnings of lightning sparking all over him. "Batman's running every test possible on the blood, and we're _going_ to get a lead from that too. I promise you."

Flash's eyes lit up dangerously, and he turned on Elongated Man in a rage, "It takes _hours_ to get those results back and then hours more to find out what they mean! If Zoom has Wally, they could be anywhere on the planet within _minutes!_ I need to get him back _now!"_

No one spoke for a long minute, and Roy watched his various mentors – the Justice League's veterans – stand around shuffling their feet in shame before one of them finally spoke up.

"Well, that's not going to happen," Dinah sighed in resignation. She turned to stare out the window into space, her lips tightening into a firm line. "So, we need to hold it together and work with what we have… and pray we're not too late."

Flash gave a frustrated cry of rage and slammed his fist into the wall beside him at superspeed, " _God DAMMIT!"_

The reinforced steel buckled beneath the force of the blow with a thunderous, ringing bang, and everyone in the room jumped. Flash placed the hand holding Wally's goggles against the wall and leaned forward until his forehead was touching the destroyed steel. Roy saw his shoulders hunch in anguish and the muscles in his back tense. Just when he thought the Flash was about to crumble, he took one deep, shuddering breath and straightened up.

"I'm going to the labs," he ground out suddenly. "I'm a forensic analyst; I can get those answers faster than anyone."

Roy watched him head for the door with grim satisfaction. He knew there was a reason why he'd always liked the Flash.

 _"Recognize: Hawkwoman – 10; Hawkman – 09_ "

Roy turned to see both of the hawks coming out of the zeta tubes behind him. Their armor and wings were a little blackened and singed, but they seemed largely alright. Flash stopped in his tracks and waited with everyone to hear the news.

"We found a Manhunter base," Hawkman said immediately. His hand clenched around the handle of the hefty, spiked mace at his side.

"You went in by yourselves?!" Dinah asked incredulously.

The two Thanagarian warriors scoffed at her words, and Hawkwoman crossed her arms with a small smirk, "It wasn't anything we couldn't handle. Really. The base was abandoned. We had to fight through the residual automated defenses, but it was smooth flying after that."

"We found deactivated Manhunters down in the crypts," Hawkman told them gravely. "Would've brought one up top with us, but we figured it would be safer to let the Lanterns examine it down there first."

Hal enveloped himself in his ring's light and flew towards the zeta tubes, "I'll take a squad and check it out if one of you will lead us there."

" _I'll_ go," Hawkman flexed his wings eagerly with a dark smile. "Shayera's kill count is higher than mine right now, and I need to fix that."

"You can try," Hawkwoman said loftily, clipping her mace to her hip and walking over to Dinah with a toss of her red hair.

"Flash," Hal called across the room before he activated the zeta beam. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Go," Flash waved him off determinedly. "I have my own job to do."

Hal nodded and teleported away with Hawkman right as Flash zipped out of sight. Roy watched Elongated Man give a tired sort of sigh and excuse himself as well a moment later.

"They didn't find Wally, did they?" Hawkwoman stated more than asked.

Dinah shook her head, scratching at the back of her neck like it was aching, "We have a few clues, but nothing substantial yet. The waiting's going to be the worst part."

"The worst part is what Wally's going through right now," Hawkwoman corrected unhappily.

Dinah's strong appearance cracked a little, and she rubbed at her face with both hands to hide it. She jerked back suddenly and looked at her blood encrusted fingers with downturned eyebrows, "I'm going to go try and clean up a little. Can you check on Robin and Superboy if you have a minute? I left them in the medical bay."

Hawkwoman nodded her assent, and Dinah looked over at Roy for the first time since he arrived. Roy just gave her a determined grimace and stepped back into the zeta tube. He keyed in the coordinates for Star City and activated the teleporter.

Three seconds later, he stepped out into Oliver's secret arsenal and shrugged his quiver off, slinging it onto one of the workbenches. He pressed a button on the side and ripped out the small tablet he kept hidden in the bottom. This was _not_ acceptable. No _way_ did a villain get to take his little brother and get away with it. He tapped the screen a few times and pulled up his tracking software.

The JLA had their crap leads. Roy was going to get some real ones. He had his own methods and his own resources. He… _really_ hated to use them, but he would do anything for his brothers – even this. But, the uh…the League definitely didn't need to know about this. _Ever._

He chose the subject he wanted and waited impatiently as his receiver picked up the signal. The screen materialized a map of the United States and zoomed out from California. It scrolled east immediately and centered on the state of New York. A tiny red dot blinked to life at the southern tip of the state. She was in New York City. The logs said that she'd been there for an hour already, so he had ten…maybe fifteen minutes tops – not that he knew her patterns or spent time studying her movements or anything. He just knew her methods for…tactical purposes. Right. Well, at least the tracer he'd put on her during their last encounter was still there.

Roy swung the quiver onto his back and fastened the straps across his chest. He went to one of the walls and started loading up with weapons. He was going to need them. Roy strapped one handheld crossbow to his lower back and one to his leg. He packed three clips of bolts, strapped extra armor to his forearms and legs, and switched out his regular patrol arrows with his most dangerous ones. He slipped a pair of tonfa sticks into the holsters at his hips. He wasn't taking any chances…

Roy snatched up the GPS tracker again and stepped into the zeta tube once more. This time, he entered the coordinates for the tube in New York, and he was off.

When he stepped out of the 'condemned' building and onto the busy streets, the sun was just beginning to set in the sky. Wally had been missing for five hours now. Roy hopped onto the motorcycle that Dinah kept hidden nearby and roared through the rush hour traffic on it. He zipped through the grid as fast as he could, every now and then glancing at the detailed map of the city on his tablet. Her dot was still in the same spot. He only had seven minutes left now.

The tracker led Roy to a forty-three story office building that was just starting to empty for the evening. He paused in the plaza and glanced at the tracker again. Altitude sensors said she was on the top floor. Roy entered the building's address in his tablet and looked at the information that popped up. The top floor held the offices to Vandercorp Industries' CEO Thomas Mathers. It was almost a certainty that she was in _his_ office. Roy looked at the surrounding buildings and spotted an adjacent one that was easily fifty stories. He abandoned the bike and took off for that one at a dead run.

Roy burst through the front doors, easily dodging the security that rushed forward to stop him. He ducked into the high speed service elevator and slammed his fist into the button for the top floor. One of the hired security guards tried to follow after him, but Roy planted a foot on his chest and kicked him back. The elevator doors slid shut, and Roy felt himself rapidly shooting upwards. He made it thirty-five floors before the elevator came to a jerking halt, and a ringing alarm filled the enclosed space. Roy rolled his eyes and braced one foot on the railing. He jumped up and unlocked the escape hatch in the ceiling, grabbing onto the edge and hoisting himself onto the roof of the elevator. He pulled the bow from his back, selected a grappling arrow, and fired it straight up.

The arrow hit its mark, and the attached cord pulled taut. Roy clipped the other end to his belt and hit the retract button, letting the arrow pull him the rest of the way up. Once at the top, he swung over to the closed doors and pried them open with little effort. He ran out into a plush, lavishly decorated hallway and waiting room to the left. Roy bypassed it all and sprinted for the stairwell. He kicked open the door and started climbing the steps the rest of the way to the roof, finding it unlocked. People really needed better security.

If the other building was anything like this one, then she would've had _no_ trouble breaking in. They probably didn't even know she was there.

Roy darted across the rooftop, feeling the rushing wind breeze past him without any breakers. He leapt onto the metal railing and fired one half of a grappling arrow directly onto the roof behind him. He connected the line to his bow and fired the other half across the way onto the rooftop of his target building. The arrow dug deeply into the roof below, and Roy leapt off of the railing before the security chasing him had a chance to catch up. He zip lined down to the other building and cut the line right before he landed, rolling to absorb the shock and sprinting for this building's roof access.

When he got to the door, he saw that the lock had already been disabled. Cursing inwardly, he leapt down the stairwell to the first door he saw and shouldered his way in. It led to the top floor, which was deserted by now. All of the hallway lights were off, and there was no noise coming from any of the offices, except for one. Roy heard hysterical sobbing and the muffled sounds of someone begging for their life. He immediately took off toward the cries and burst through the door with an arrow drawn.

Like the rest of the offices, the lights were off in this one too. The floor to ceiling window taking up the entirety of one wall was facing east, so the only sunlight coming in was dim and residual. But Roy could still see Thomas Mathers seated behind his desk in suit and tie, shaking and sobbing frantically as a shadowy figure slashed at him with a sai.

Roy aimed and fired, his arrow striking the sai dead on and ripping it from the assassin's hand. Mathers whimpered from his desk and fell backwards out of his chair in surprise. The assassin froze, and Roy nocked a knock-out gas arrow, training it on the back of her head, "Back off!"

She slowly looked over her shoulder, peeking at him from behind a grinning, red-striped cat mask. Her thick black hair obscured half of the mask, which didn't really matter – Roy couldn't use it to judge her expression anyways. She straightened up and spun gracefully on her toes to face Roy, deftly twirling the other sai between her fingers, "Red~ It's been such a long time."

She spoke in a rich, almost coquettish voice, "I was beginning to think you didn't want to see me anymore."

Roy ignored the baiting and kept his eyes focused on her free hand. Experience had taught him that every part of this girl either _was_ a weapon or was never more than a twitch of the fingers away from one.

"And, I thought our last date went _so_ well," Cheshire brought one claw-gloved hand up to her hair and tucked it behind her ear where a lone earring dangled, holding the blinking red tracer that he'd stuck to her foot the last time he saw her. "I even kept the beautiful present you gave me. It was so thoughtful of you."

He felt irritation rise in his chest, and he pulled his arrow back another inch, "Step away from him."

" _Red_ ," Cheshire said in an exasperated, sing-song tone, resting her wrist on her hip and casually flicking the sai back and forth. "I'm on the side of the good guys this time. Honest."

"Good guys don't kill," Roy remarked grimly, still waiting for her to strike out lightning fast and hurl a kunai at him or something. Mathers was still cowering behind his desk.

Cheshire shrugged, "It's a work in progress."

"Put the weapon down," Roy didn't bat an eye. He knew she was watching him – waiting for him to slip up so that she could pounce.

"Did you know that he's embezzled hundreds of millions from his own company?" Cheshire rocked back on her heels comfortably, tilting the sai at her hip to point at Mathers in a lazy arc. "Put thousands out of work – four of whom have committed suicide. My employers hired me because they want… _justice_. Surely you can see how that makes my actions honorable."

"It's called 'revenge', and I don't care. Put the sai _down_ ," Roy growled, flexing the muscles in his arm in preparation.

"If I don't kill him, I don't get my full pay," Cheshire said in mock annoyance, but she tucked the weapon back into her belt. She reached up and plucked the mask from her face, revealing her beautiful, almond shaped eyes and taunting smile. She strolled catlike right up to Roy, her hips swaying with every step, and batted his bow away with one hand. Cheshire walked two fingers up his chest and grabbed the strap holding his quiver on, tugging him closer. "But, I could be okay with that if you make it worth it…"

Roy tried to keep his eyes on her face and his guard up, but everything _about_ Cheshire was alluring – her voice, her eyes, her _body_ …

Ugh. He shouldn't have let her get this close. He was a predominantly distance fighter. Now, he was screwed. Cheshire rose up on her toes and leaned in for a kiss, hooking one hand behind his head and threading her clawed fingers through his hair. That was when Roy turned his face away at the last second and shoved her away with his bow, "Guess you're going to be pretty disappointed then. You're _not_ killing him."

"This is a bad man, Red," Cheshire stroked the back of his neck, cooing to him and chuckling. "I think we can both agree that he at the very least needs to be….punished somehow."

"Then, collect some evidence, break his nose, and drop him off at the police station," Roy relaxed the string on his bow and replaced the arrow in his quiver.

"Oh~" she groaned mournfully, stalking around him in a tight circle. "You take all the fun out of it."

Roy felt her loop both arms over his shoulders from behind and lightly trace small patterns on his chest with her claws. Despite everything that was going on and the fact that he'd just caught her about to _murder_ someone, Roy's breathing hitched, and his heart skipped a few beats.

"Fine," he said gruffly, trying not to let himself notice how she was pressing herself up against him. He didn't have time to argue with her. "Break his legs first, then steal his banking information and drop him off with the police."

"See? Now this is what real love is all about," Cheshire laughed breathily right beside his ear, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. "Compromise."

Roy felt his knees go a little weak, and he exhaled sharply to clear his head, angry that the villainess had this power over him. He turned around in her arms to face her, catching her hands in his own when they tried to cup his face, "I need a favor."

"Oh?" Cheshire leaned back in mocking surprise. She bit her lip and batted her half-lidded eyes at him seductively. "And what does such a big, strong _hero_ want from me?"

All of a sudden, Thomas Mathers decided to make a break for it. Roy released Cheshire and reached out with one arm, clotheslining Mathers before he could get to the door and flipping him onto his back. He selected the knockout gas arrow and fired it directly down into Mathers' kidney. The trick arrow exploded into a small cloud of white smoke, and Mathers fell unconscious with a long, drawn out groan of pain. Roy nudged him with his boot and looked back to Cheshire.

She was perched on the edge of Mathers' desk across the room, sitting with one long, slender leg crossed over the other. She'd retrieved her other sai from the floor and was grinning at him playfully, silently daring him to come after her.

Roy refused to rise to her challenge. He folded up his bow, signaling that he didn't want to fight, and clipped it to his thigh. Cheshire's grin tightened a little in disappointment.

"The Justice League is looking for someone. He was taken by a villain, and I need your underground connections to help find him," Roy told her reluctantly. He knew that she would be difficult about this, and there was no guarantee that she would even agree to help.

Predictably, Cheshire's expression sharpened, and she narrowed her eyes at him, cocking one eyebrow dangerously, "You want me to help the Justice Friends?"

"I want you to help _me_ ," he tried to keep from getting angry because of his impatience. "He's my brother."

It felt wrong admitting something so personal and potentially damning to a known criminal, but it was necessary. Roy would risk giving her information that she could use against him if it could persuade her to aid him.

Surprisingly, his worried admission had taken Cheshire off guard. Her eyes widened marginally, and for a split second, she let her sly, conniving persona slip. He saw genuine surprise in her expression; she hadn't expected him to tell her something like that.

"You have resources with the villains that I don't," Roy pushed a little more.

"Why should I help you?" she bristled suddenly, glaring at him from the desk. "You've never been anything but cold to me. You're no fun."

"I'll be more fun," Roy slowly moved towards the volatile woman like he was approaching a wild animal. "I promise."

Cheshire sighed audibly in frustration and rolled her eyes at him, looking teasingly upset, "That's not how I want it to be. I want you to want it."

"Believe me," Roy spoke in a low voice, reaching out to touch her wild hair before he could stop himself. "If you do this for me, I'll _want_ to be more fun."

Cheshire held the tip of her sai up to her lips as if she was considering it.

This was most definitely a terrible idea. The flirting and the tension was one thing, but actually getting involved with Cheshire was incredibly stupid – so astoundingly stupid, that Roy was afraid to admit to himself that the idea was undeniably exciting.

Cheshire stared up at him with a curious expression. Roy could see her mind working quickly, trying to gauge whether or not he was being serious. It only took a few seconds. She smiled and shot out her legs to wrap around his waist and pull him closer. Roy placed his hands on the desk on either side of her to brace himself.

" _Deal_ ," Cheshire purred. She lay back on the desk and stretched her arms above her head like a cat, still not releasing Roy from her hold. "So, who do you want me to investigate?"

"Professor Zoom," he said immediately, trying to keep his eyes from roaming over her body – especially where the short, green kimono was riding up her thighs.

Cheshire sat up abruptly and looked at him with a cautious frown, "Your brother? He's that little runner, isn't he?"

Roy nodded, "He's not blood, but he's my brother all the same, and I need to rescue him from Zoom before it's too late."

"Professor Zoom is insane," Cheshire said disapprovingly. "He would kill you – he'd kill _me –_ before we'd have time to register that he was there."

"I'm not asking you to fight him," Roy reassured her quickly, and then his voice took on a fierce tone. "I just need you to _find_ him for me. After that, I'm bringing the entire Justice League to take him down."

A darkly excited smile curled at the edges of Cheshire's lips, and she snapped up, wrapping her arms around Roy's neck. She squeezed her legs tighter around his hips and closed the distance between them, pressing their lips together in a deep kiss. Roy didn't pull away. He grabbed her thigh with one hand and placed the other on her back, crushing her closer and kissing back desperately.

"I love it when you get all protective," Cheshire chuckled against his lips, dragging four claws down the back of Roy's neck painfully. She placed one last kiss at the corner of his mouth and rolled backwards away from him and off the desk. "Give me one day."

Roy was still reeling when he finally noticed Cheshire hefting Thomas Mathers onto one shoulder and his laptop case onto the other, "What are you doing with him?"

"Taking him to the police," she smiled and shot out the glass window of the office, still moving gracefully even with her burden.

"You didn't break his legs," Roy pointed out lamely. Cheshire looked down at Mathers' intact limbs and gave a playful shrug before replacing the mask on her face.

"Compromise," she said simply, and then she was gone, leaving Roy standing in the middle of the empty office with some wildly conflicting emotions.

He went to rub the back of his neck and winced when he felt a sharp sting. He tried again gingerly and ran his fingers over the four raised lines, his stomach twisting in dread.

Claw marks.

Great. _That_ wasn't going to be hard to explain or anything.

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[Undisclosed Location

Unknown Date, Unknown Time]

Wally woke up slowly. He cracked his eyes open one at a time and looked around blearily at the ceiling above him. He blinked a few times when his vision proved too blurry to see anything clearly. Several feet above him hung a wide metal disc with a vent built in. Everything below it was strangely distorted, and Wally blinked again. Oh. He was looking through glass. That's why. Really thick glass…

His eyes followed the glass down to the floor and saw his feet just a few inches from it. Wally really looked at what he was lying on top of then. It was a matching metal disc. His eyes flew back to the glass and followed it to the left where it curved just inches from his face and to the right where it circled around his legs.

Where the heck _was_ he? Wally tried to lie still as his mind groggily stumbled to catch up. What had happened? And why did he feel so sluggish? He couldn't even remember how he'd gotten here. Okay, what's the last thing he _did_ remember?

Eating half a kitchen… Ugh, he _would_ think of food first. He'd been preparing for…something…

What? He always ate before missions with the Team and patrols with Uncle Barry. Ah, no, he was benched. That's right. So, what was he preparing for? He'd been…in the cave? Yeah, definitely, because he'd been polishing off M'gann's awesome meatloaf. That girl really needed to be a chef. HA! He'd been getting ready for a run with Jay and Max! He'd eaten so much because his metabolism was fluctu-

Wally shot upright in horror as his memories abruptly came slamming back into him. They'd been attacked! Wally gasped in pain and doubled over onto his side, curling his legs in. His stomach ached from where Zoom had slugged him. Wally wrapped an arm around his abs and tried to push himself back up with the other. He stared at the floor and took a moment to catch his breath. Professor Zoom and those other speedsters had attacked Jay and Max but had only tried to catch _him_. Why? What the hell did they want him for? And what happened to Max and Jay? He kind of remembered Max trying to grab onto his feet in a last ditch effort to stay together as Zoom lifted him out of the water, but nothing after that. Had Max been able to swim back to the surface, or had he drowned? And what about Jay!? The last things he remembered before he blacked out were Jay's cries of pain as the speedsters tore him apart.

He had to find out what happened to them! Wally gritted his teeth and pushed himself to his knees, trying his best to ignore the pain and looking around at the glass cylinder encasing him. He had to get out of this thing first. Wally peered through the glass in front of him and into the room beyond. It was huge; there were all kinds of large crates stacked floor to ceiling against the furthest wall, various bits of rusted and broken machinery sitting all over, and what looked like one small part of an automated assembly line that continued on unseen into the next rooms.

Okay. Before he escaped, he should probably figure out where he was. Look for clues, Wally. Your best friend is the sidekick of the best detective ever. You had to have picked up _something_ from him. Wally stared hard at the machines. There was some kind of writing on the machinery that he didn't recognize – different letters. It might've been something Slavic.

The assembly line was running, but it was quiet, and a giant project tarp was cutting him off from seeing what was being made. He could see flashes of red and blue colors but nothing more. He looked to the right where the room was mostly empty. The far right wall was one big, roll down door that looked like it could be raised or lowered by a control panel. There were several sets of slushy tire tracks leading straight out from the door. So, wherever he was, it was snowy…in late March. Okay, so a cold place. Maybe up north? Or south…with Zoom, he could be anywhere.

Wally turned around in his glass cell and came face to face with Uncle Barry. He was about two inches from the glass and crouched down to eye level. Wally's heart leapt into his throat, and he gave a startled cry and fell back in surprise. Then, he _really_ looked at him. He was wearing Professor Zoom's suit with the cowl pulled back. That alone would have been bad enough, but the most spine shuddering thing about him was his face.

He looked _very_ similar to Uncle Barry, but it wasn't him. Not unless Uncle Barry had had a _very_ horrific accident in the last few days. There were long lines of ugly, black stitches running along his jaw line, nose, under his eyes, his forehead, and cheekbones. Parts of his skin were red and patchy, and others were pulled tight like they'd been stretched too far. And his _eyes_ were all wrong. One was a bright, clear blue that was a shade or two too light, and the other was dark blue with a ring of light green at the edges – definitely not Uncle Barry's color blue. Stitches ran along the top of his head and the hairline, which was just beginning to sprout scattered blond hairs. He looked like someone had tried to make Uncle Barry's face into Frankenstein's monster.

Wally's blood froze in his veins.

No. Someone had tried to make _their_ face look like _Uncle Barry's_. His eyes flickered to the yellow and red costume again, and his stomach twisted in sickening terror. This was Professor Zoom. He reached out in a blur of motion and slammed one palm against the glass, making Wally flinch back instinctively. Zoom's mouth spread out in a slow smile, and he pressed closer to the glass.

"You don't talk in your sleep, Baby Flash," he whispered manically like it was a secret. His mismatched blue eyes bored into Wally's own. "I was hoping you'd say some names for me."

When Wally did nothing but stare back in wide-eyed fear, Zoom clarified, "So I could kill them."

Wally turned suddenly and shot to his feet, frantically checking the glass cell for a way out. Professor Zoom slowly straightened up from his hunch and rocked back on his heels, running a hand along the top of his scarred head, "Do you like my new look, Wally?"

This was _not_ happening! Wally zipped to one end of the cell – the one farthest from Zoom – and began slamming his fists into the glass. Each blow was met with a muffled thud and a sharp twinge of pain in his knuckles but not a lick of damage to the walls.

Suddenly, Professor Zoom was standing in front of Wally again, "Of course, you've never seen my old look, so you have nothing to compare it to… but I still think you like it. I decided to do some work on my face – you know, a little plastic surgery. I have to say, though, your surgeons in this time are borderline primitive, Wally. Back in the twenty-fifth century where I'm from, the reconstructive surgery is _much_ more advanced. You can basically do it yourself at home. They sell it in kits on the shelf."

Wally coiled the muscles in his leg and kicked the glass as hard as he could. He flickered away from Zoom again and attacked the seams of the cell where the glass met the metal circles.

"Hospitals have really big stores in them in my time," Professor Zoom ran around the cell to talk to Wally face to face again, keeping with him no matter where in the cell he tried to run to. "It's only like a thousand dollars for a new nose. I never realized how much I took technology for granted until I came to _this_ time – definitely culture shock. _Hey!_ I bet you can't guess who I picked to model my new face after."

Don't look. Don't look. Don't look.

Wally peeked over his shoulder at the twisted visage of Uncle Barry and felt his heartbeat stutter in terror. He'd known that Zoom was from the future, and he'd known he was a homicidal sociopath, but _this_ …

Professor Zoom crouched down again and cocked his head sharply, his twisted face deforming to show confusion, "Why are you being so quiet? You've always been rather mouthy whenever we met in the past."

"Oh, I know!" he snapped his fingers like the answer just hit him. "You're upset at me because I knocked you out and kidnapped you, right? Isn't that it, Wally? Well, if it makes you feel better, _I_ wanted to kill you right then and there, but that would really mess up the plan."

"How do you know my name?!" Wally finally spoke. He'd meant to shout the words angrily, but his voice caught in his throat, and they just came out as a shaky, terrified mumble.

"Your name?" Zoom frowned like he didn't understand. "I know more than your name, Wally. I know your whole back story – your identity."

"Who told you?" Wally demanded, his voice getting a little louder. He squared his shoulders and tried to be brave, although he couldn't feel the tight fabric of his Kid Flash costume and draw confidence from it. "Was it my dad?"

"It was your aunt."

Wally froze. His eyes went wide, and he stared back at Zoom uncomprehendingly. The villain held up one finger, signaling him to wait a moment, and zipped across the room to retrieve something from one of the work tables behind him.

"Your identities? I've always known them," Zoom pulled whatever he'd grabbed from behind his back and waved it around loftily. "I'm from the future, Wally. And in the future, _you're_ history."

It was a book. Zoom pressed it to the glass with one hand and rested his face right beside it. Despite his fear, Wally crept closer to read the title.

 _The Life Story of the Flash_ by Iris Allen.

Wally's mouth dropped open in shock, and he stared at the hardcover book in disbelief. Aunt Iris had burned their identities?

The book was abruptly pulled from the glass, and Zoom looked down at it with a strange, detached expression, "Calm down; she doesn't get it published for a few more decades."

Professor Zoom was quiet for a few moments before speaking again, "I just wanted an autograph, you know."

Wally stumbled back into the center of the cell and tried not to panic.

"I remember learning all about this time in school. Did you know that they call the twenty-first century the Heroic Age? There aren't any more superheroes in the twenty-fifth century. I was obsessed with learning more about it, so I'd spend the whole day researching as much as I could. The second Flash was instantly my favorite hero. Barry Allen. I knew _him_ better than I knew myself. So, I decided I'd do anything it took to meet him. I spent a fortune, and nearly killed myself getting superspeed, and went back in time to meet him and become his partner."

Wally stayed very still, listening in fascinated horror as Zoom paced back and forth rapidly with a wide smile on his face.

"And I did go back in time. And I got to meet the Flash, _but it was the wrong Flash!_ " Zoom suddenly charged at the glass and slammed a fist into it, mismatched blue eyes fixing Wally with the most hate-filled glare he'd ever seen. "It was _you!_ I screwed up and came into your time after Barry had been dead for years, and you were the Flash instead. And, to top it all off, guess what I found out. _Guess!_ I found out that _I_ became the Flash's greatest _enemy_ while _you_ got to be his partner!"

"I…become the Flash….?" Wally asked brokenly, dumbfounded. "And Uncle Barry _dies_?"

"Yes," Zoom spat bitterly. He turned and hurled the book across the room furiously. "And you're _faster_ than me! After you defeated me and sent me back to my own time, I decided to try again. This time, I arrived when you were just starting out. I watched you and your uncle run around together for months before I changed my goal. I didn't want to become Barry's partner anymore. I decided that I would kill you first, then him, and then I would _become_ him and live his life instead of mine. I did give you two one last chance, though. It was the first time we met in this era, but you blew it."

"Uh, hey, loony tunes, _you_ attacked _us_ first! What were we supposed to do?! Invite you over for tea and cookies?!" Wally was still reeling, trying to digest everything Zoom had said.

Professor Zoom shrugged like it didn't matter, "I realized that it was going to happen no matter what I did. As Professor Zoom, I was destined to be the Flash's arch nemesis. So, I decided to throw away my own identity and take Barry's. When this is all over, I'll _be_ Barry Allen."

"So, why didn't you kill me before when I was unconscious – or all of the other times in the past when you knew my identity and where I slept at night?" Wally threw his hands up angrily. Zoom was basically blaming _him_ for how he'd turned out.

"I didn't know where you slept at night," Zoom jerked his thumb at where the book lay on the floor several feet away. "Your aunt kept the details vague. She's a smart lady. That's part of the reason why I love her. I think we'll make a good match when I'm her husband."

Wally's anger spiked at the mention of Zoom taking advantage of his aunt that way. He slammed one foot into the glass at superspeed, and the entire cell rang from the force.

"As for why I didn't kill you before: I couldn't," Professor Zoom sighed and walked a few feet away, looking like someone had kicked his favorite puppy. "We need you alive – at least for now – for the plan to work."

"What plan?" Wally growled, his fear melting away in the face of the protective rage for his aunt that was taking over. "And who the hell is 'we'?!"

"Well, _I_ need you to stay alive until I get the formula right, and then you can die as far as I'm concerned," Professor Zoom remarked offhandedly. "I don't know what all your father has planned for you."

Wally had opened his mouth to shout back some smartass remark and then promptly shut it when he heard Zoom mention his father. He took a few steps back and felt his legs go numb without warning. His mouth went dry, and he tried to swallow hard, "My…father?"

Zoom nodded at something over Wally's shoulder and simply sauntered off to collect his beloved book from the floor, dusting it off and replacing it on the table it had been on before. Wally felt his chest tighten and his lungs absolutely refuse to take in any air. He slowly looked over his shoulder, his whole body shaking like mad, turning as he went until he was facing a man he hadn't seen in person for well over a month.

"Dad?"


	13. Chapter 13

[Undisclosed Location

Unknown Date, Unknown Time]

Wally stared out at his father with a mix of emotions – the foremost of which being hurt and anger. He'd spent almost every night lying awake in bed, turning over in his head everything he would say to his father if he was ever given the chance. He'd gotten a pretty good idea too a few times, but it all flew out the window at that moment.

He thrust one arm out behind him, pointing at Zoom furiously, "You're working for _Professor Zoom_?!"

His father looked distastefully at the insane villain who was currently perched on a table and flipping through his book, paying them no attention. He was wearing a dark red and blue uniform with two pistols strapped to his hips. "We're not working for him; we're working _with_ him. Temporarily. We need each other for the moment."

"Need each other for what?" Wally spat. "Zoom said something about a plan and some kind of formula earlier. Who do you think you are – some sort of wannabe supervillain? And, who is 'we'? The League thinks you're working for the Manhunters."

"I _am_ a Manhunter," his father steeled himself, straightening up impressively and pushing his shoulders back.

Wally rolled his eyes, "What, you're a robot now? That's new…"

" _Shut up!_ " his father snarled, stalking towards the cell. Wally took a step back before he could stop himself and felt a cold wave of shame crash into him when he saw his father's expression fill with satisfaction. "You're _nothing_. You have no idea what the Manhunters are trying to do."

"Kill everyone?" Wally offered angrily.

"They're going to purify the universe," his father crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, _kill everyone_ ," Wally glared up at his father. "I heard about what they did to sector 666. That sounds _real_ noble, Dad. Although, that's never been one of your better qualities."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," he cocked an eyebrow at Wally superiorly. "You've always been useless. The Manhunters promised me a powerful son, and I got you instead."

"What?" Wally's eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"I joined up when I was fresh out of high school, and I did everything they told me to do – obeyed any command I was given, whether I liked it or not. Something _you've_ never understood. So, when they told me that if I married your mother she would give me a powerful son that would be instrumental to the Manhunter's cause, I was eager to do it."

Wally froze in place, turning his head slightly to look at his father warily, "You married Mom because a bunch of robots told you to? That's…the only reason?"

"I got lucky. Mary was a good woman. She was very tolerable to be around," his dad said dispassionately like he was describing a reliable car.

" _Then why did you kill her?!"_ Wally slammed his fists against the glass right in front of his dad's face. He wished so hard that he could vibrate through objects so that he could escape from this cell and throttle his father before he even had time to scream. " _Why did you kill me if I was so damn important?!"_

"Killing you was a mistake," his father admitted grudgingly. "I admit, I lost it a little when all the stress got the better of me. Poor Mary was just in the way when I snapped. The Manhunters were upset with me when they had to break into the Watchtower to get me out; it alerted the Justice League to their existence ahead of schedule. Now, they have to destroy the League before we can continue our mission."

Wally's eyes widened in alarm, "Why?"

"Earth is very important to the Manhunters right now. We can't lose it just yet, and the Justice League threatens us, so they have to go," he shrugged.

" _West_ ," Professor Zoom snapped suddenly, closing his book and zipping over to the cell. He seemed to have a brief handle on his sanity again. "Stop telling him everything. He's trying to fish for information."

"Let him," his father said offhandedly, gesturing to Wally with a weak swipe of his arm. "There's no way he can escape, and the Justice League is never going to find him. Who's he going to tell?"

Zoom turned to stare at Wally with his horrifying mess of a face. The different colored eyes narrowed in hatred before they looked away, "It's better to be safe than sorry. You never know."

"If it was so dangerous for the Justice League to find out about the Manhunters, then why did they blow all of that to come out of hiding and rescue _you_?" Wally challenged his father, knowing that if he pushed him into anger, he'd be easier to pull information out of. "Why the hell are you so important? You don't even have any superpowers, and the last time I saw you do anything close to being physically challenging was when you were stooping down to pick up the TV remote."

Surprisingly, his dad didn't rise up at the barb. He just fixed him with a glare and spoke in an irritated tone, "When I was in my cell, your uncle told me that you were still alive somehow. I knew I could fix my mistake, so I radioed for the Manhunters when the League left me alone in my cell. The Manhunters have technology that can track anyone anywhere if they have a blood sample from a close relative of their target. I was the only one on the planet they could use to track you, so they needed to break me out."

Wally took in everything his father was saying with a growing sense of dread. He opened his mouth to speak, shut it when his words failed him, and tried again hesitantly, "….what exactly do you need me for? Why did you kidnap me?"

"You'll find out soon enough," his father smiled darkly, clearly taking great delight in his son's fear. Then, he looked over at Professor Zoom. "You're almost ready for him, aren't you?"

"Tomorrow," Zoom agreed, reaching back and pulling the cowl over his head. His body started sparking with power, and Wally saw his eyes glow red instead of blue through the eye holes cut into the mask. So, he hadn't been imagining that red color earlier – but what was causing it? "The formula is almost ready to test again. I need to go finish it now before the new subjects arrive."

"What formula?" Wally asked in a panic. What the hell were they going to do to him?

"Send one of your goons to knock him out, will you?" his dad cast one last revolted look at Wally before turning to leave.

"Hey!" Wally shouted, kicking the glass again. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

"They're not _my_ goons," Zoom protested. "They're Savage's. I don't want anything to do with them; they're completely ruined."

Wally halted in his struggles abruptly, watching the pair walk away. Savage? _Vandal_ Savage?! What did _he_ have to do with all this?

"They were fine until they tried _your_ formula."

"It was the first batch. Of course it didn't work right. I'm surprised it made them as fast as it did."

Realization hit Wally dead in the chest like a hammer. _Oh no._

At the same time, the vents in his cell powered up, and a fine white vapor started spewing from the ceiling. Wally immediately took a deep breath and held it, dropping to the floor to escape the smoke for as long as he could. He braced himself against the cylindrical glass walls and watched the smoke fill up the top of the cell and swirl down around him. One minute passed, and Wally could barely see through the glass to the rest of the room. Another minute went by, and Wally had to shut his eyes, because the white fog was so thick. His lungs were burning as he fought his body's natural reflex to take a deep breath.

It seemed redundant to hold his breath until he passed out, since the gas filling up the cell was designed to knock him out anyway, but Wally didn't want to give in. He didn't want to give in and surrender even that tiny shred of control in a situation where he had next to none, but after only fifteen more seconds, he was releasing that held breath with a strangled cough.

And then, his body sucked in another lungful of air before he could stop himself.

Ten seconds later, he was lying half on his side, slumped over against the glass and unconscious.

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[Gotham City

March 24, 14:00 EST]

Hal had never been _in_ the Batcave before. He'd seen glimpses of it in the past when they'd had to read Superman's mind once, but that had only irritated him, because it meant that _Clark_ had been allowed in while Hal had not. Batman still didn't fully trust Hal. It was probably their personalities…just didn't mesh well…yeah, that was it. The seven founders had all eventually shared their identities with each other two years ago, so Hal knew that he was Bruce Wayne, billionaire playboy – which was just _wrong_! But, he'd never been allowed in until today.

And it was under terrible circumstances.

He stood behind Bruce, who was seated at his supercomputer, arms crossed and feeling very much like a five-year-old in a priceless antique store with his mother. Above him, a chorus of high-pitched screeching swirled around in flocks, and Hal nervously threw up a full body shield against any falling bat guano. The floor and equipment was miraculously clean of it, but Hal wasn't willing to take any chances. He was the type that _would_ get pooped on the first time he visited the Batcave.

Hal just wished that Barry would hurry up and get here. Standing in awkward silence with the Bat was torture, but he knew that his friend had been later than usual recently. When he wasn't working, he was running the globe looking for Wally. Hal had even caught Barry pushing himself to speeds that were dangerous to the planet. They needed to find Wally soon – not just for the kid, but for Barry as well. He was starting to lose it.

Hal knew that Barry hadn't eaten anything at all the day his nephew was taken, and he'd worked straight through the night analyzing the blood samples they'd gotten off of Jay, physically searching the planet while he was waiting for the results to come in from the labs. He hadn't even spared a minute to pop into the med bay to see Max and Jay, and he hadn't seen Iris yet either. Diana had been the one to break the news to his wife. Iris had understood Barry's absence completely, and Hal could tell that she was trying her best to be okay so that her husband could give one hundred percent to finding Wally. She was a tough broad, and she'd been amazingly stable so far after everything that had happened, but she needed this to be over quickly too.

Somewhere behind them, Hal could hear a massive turbine running and the distant rush of waterfalls. He gave a sigh, even daring to make it audible, and took a few steps to the edge of the platform, looking down over the railing at the small dock at the very bottom level of the cave. There were three varying types of watercraft tethered to it and bobbing gently in the water. Man, he _really_ wanted to see the Batplane up close again. Bruce had left it in the Watchtower's Javelin bay only once and never again after that.

Hal may or may not have been the reason for that.

"Where's Robin at?" he asked suddenly, unable to stand the silence any longer.

"With the Team," Bruce said quietly, not looking up from his work. "I found a few things that needed further investigation, so I split the Team in two and dispatched them to Russia. If we try to keep them out of the loop on this, they'll just take matters into their own hands. Especially Robin."

"Russia? So, you found something on-" Hal began, but paused when he heard the unnatural sound of solid matter warping against its will. He turned to the side to see Barry stepping out of the limestone and onto the platform across the water from them. He disappeared into a red blur and was standing beside Bruce at the computer in half a second.

"Alright, I'm here," he said grimly, pulling back his cowl and crossing his arms. Hal took in his friend's appearance and felt his expression tighten with worry. Barry's normally bright face was grey and worn. He stared at Bruce's monitors with tired, dark eyes and sweat pouring down his neck. His shoulders and chest heaved quietly in exhaustion. Hal walked up beside him and took it as confirmation that Barry knew exactly how terrible he looked when he refused to meet Hal's gaze. "What did you find?"

Bruce turned back to the computer and started pulling up various windows and pictures on the screens, "After you took the blood samples to your own lab, I examined Kid Flash's goggles again and was able to find a few microscopic fibers that we missed the first time."

He enlarged a photo of a single strand with notes and lines drawn all over it, "The material is similar to your Flash costume, but not as effective. It's made to withstand extremely high speeds and temperatures as well as friction resistant, but it's not as strong. I'd estimate that these speedsters need new costumes every other time they exceed the speed of sound. The severe rate of deterioration is the reason that fibers were left behind on the goggles."

"Any idea who made it?" Hal asked curiously.

"S.T.A.R. Labs," Bruce said grimly. When Barry and Hal looked down at him in angry disbelief, Bruce pulled up another window detailing the schematics of the unique material, "Twenty-eight years ago. It was sold in bulk to the Russian government under the pretense of being used for their aerospace program, but the program never produced any aircraft coated with the material, so I did some digging. It looks like the shipment completely disappeared officially, but after breaking into some secure files, I found out that it was sent to a top secret facility in Siberia called the Puleski Institute. The facility has been abandoned for years, but I dispatched Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Artemis to investigate it for any clues. When I tried to look into the Puleski Institute further, I found that most of the records had been destroyed. The only names I could uncover were Orloff and Krulik, both bio-geneticists. Doctor Krulik is deceased, but Orloff is alive and living in St. Petersburg. I sent Robin, Zatanna, and Superboy there to question Orloff."

"So, really old S.T.A.R. Labs tech is running around with Zoom and the mutant speedsters three," Hal ground his teeth together unhappily. He liked to think that S.T.A.R. Labs was on their side, not helping foreign governments make super criminals. "What else?"

"I hacked into S.T.A.R. Labs databases, and there's nothing even close to the boots that the speedsters were wearing," Bruce sat back in his chair and rubbed at his forehead in frustration. "They don't even have any research into the subject at all."

"I got that one," Hal perked up a little. "And it's not good. The boots are definitely Manhunter tech, which means that they're working with Zoom for sure."

Barry's expression sharpened, and he looked at Hal dangerously, "If Zoom has Wally and he's working with the Manhunters, then he's taking him to Rudy. That's got to be how he found out Wally's identity in the first place. Rudy told him."

"I'll bet that's why they broke him out of the Watchtower," Bruce frowned at some point in the distance, tenting his fingers together pensively. "They need Wally for something."

"But, _what?_ " Hal didn't understand. "This looks like it's turning out to be a speedster thing. If they needed a speedster, then why not attack Barry? He's the fastest. And why would they need another speedster at all? It looks like they've got plenty already."

"I don't know," Barry closed his eyes like he was thinking hard. "Maybe it's just because he's Rudy's son."

"What did you find from the blood?" Bruce asked, looking up at Barry where he had one hand resting on the back of the chair.

"Well, the two types are both male. I ran it through every database looking for hits and got two matches. Boleslaw Uminski and Gregor Gregorovich. Uminski went missing from his school in 1991 in Samara, and Gregorovich disappeared on a family vacation in Moscow. Both were five at the time, and they've been missing ever since. That was twenty years ago; they'd be adults now."

"So, Zoom's got both of those missing kids…" Hal tried to make sense of it in his head. "What do you want to bet that the female speedster was a missing child as well?"

"That's the thing," Barry said tiredly. "I don't have her DNA, but both of the men weren't metahumans as children. They had to have gotten their powers after they went missing. They're both definitely speedsters, but…there's something very weird about them. Their blood samples contained a chemical compound I've never seen before."

"A new drug?" Bruce questioned grimly.

"It looks like it," Barry nodded. "But I have no idea what it does. I'm working on taking it apart piece by piece and analyzing the different elements. Max said that something was wrong with the speedsters. This _may_ be it. I've also been trying to track down what Zoom's been up to lately, but I'm coming up with nothing. The Rogues don't normally work with him, but I figured I'd check anyways. Piper said they haven't had anything to do with him in a long time, and I believe him. I looked at the CCPD's records of his appearances, and he hasn't shown up _anywhere_ in Central for almost a year. I don't know how I missed that. I mean, he doesn't attack every day, but I still should have been on it more."

"You can't watch all of your villains all the time," Bruce fixed him with a serious stare. Hal saw Bruce's blue eyes scan Barry over quickly and knew that he was unhappy with how the speedster was taking care of himself.

"It's Professor Zoom," Barry met his stare with one of his own, not backing down in the slightest. "He's criminally insane and can move faster than the synapses in your brain can fire. I should have taken him down years ago. Permanently."

"You mean kill him?" Hal's eyes went wide. Since when did Barry talk like _this_?

"If I had, then this might not be happening…" Barry's shoulders sagged helplessly, and the lightning in his eyes fizzled out with defeat. "This is twice now that I've failed Wally because I didn't do enough."

"I guarantee you he doesn't see it that way," Bruce said forcefully. "And you forget that his father's working with the Manhunters. This would have happened anyway."

Hal grasped his friend's shoulders and made sure he was looking at him, "Quit being stupid, Barry. Let's just catch this bastard and make him pay."

"What did you find in Egypt?"

Hal looked at Bruce in surprise and took a step back from Barry, "An abandoned Manhunter base – just like the Hawks said. I took Katar, Guy, and four other Lanterns, and we did a full sweep of the base. It was _old_. Like, the rations we found in there were dated to expire in the seventies."

"So, they've been recruiting humans since well before then," Bruce's scowl deepened. "How have they kept this quiet for so long?"

"Cloaking devices," Hal pulled up glowing green schematics of the massive generators they'd found. "This one was buried beneath the whole tomb, and it's not all we found. There were homing beacons to seven other bases."

Barry suddenly looked hopeful, and before he could ask the locations, Hal cut him off, "Teams of Lanterns are already searching them right now. They're all dotted along Africa and the Middle East, but there are bound to be more. If every one of them could lead us to seven more, we'll have them mapped out in a matter of weeks."

The look on Barry's face clearly said that it wasn't fast enough, but there wasn't anything they could do about it. It took time to locate and safely sweep all of the bases on an entire planet.

Bruce seemed pleased by that timeframe. Hal knew that the big bad Bat cared about Wally's safety, but he was removed enough emotionally to consider the bigger picture. A few weeks was a fantastic amount of time to remove several decades worth of Manhunter invasion advancement.

"What did you find out from the Manhunters that were left behind?" Bruce asked quickly before Barry could get any more upset than he already was. Hal had never realized before just how much they took Barry's usual temperament for granted.

"They're _much_ newer than the Manhunters that attacked Oa, but they're also older than the ones that tore a new port hole into the Watchtower," Hal ran a hand through his hair and dismissed the ring construct. "Which means we're a few thousand years out of date and in for some nasty surprises. We also found the remains of a factory that looks like its function was solely to _make_ Manhunters. If every base on every planet has a factory like the one we found, then we're in a _lot_ of trouble. The only good news is that it takes a very long time to make even a single Manhunter. Even on Oa, it took the Guardians days to make just twenty."

Barry and Bruce didn't look particularly reassured by that fact. Hal couldn't blame them. It was still a massive number they were looking at.

"We also confirmed that they _are_ completely deactivated. The cores are missing from every single one of them," Hal said.

"I don't get it," Barry scratched the back of his neck, resting one hand on his hip. "Seems like they're all about expanding their numbers. Why would they leave any behind?"

"Guy thinks they're just defective, but Kilowog's thinking it's a trap, and I'm going with him on this one," Hal gave a small laugh. "So we took them apart inside the base and left them there for now. Salaak is mapping out their programming to see if we can use it against them somehow, but the going is slow. Their systems are so complicated that it'll take him half a day at least to decode everything. The Guardians don't have any other ways to help us either. When the Manhunters rebelled, it looks like they severely altered their systems."

"So, we're at a standstill until new leads open up," Bruce sighed in mild frustration.

Barry shook his head and tapped the communicator in his ear, "I don't stand still. Call me when you have something new."

And then he was gone before either of them could say anything to stop him. Hal just stared in the direction he'd disappeared into, and Bruce turned back to his work after a moment.

"He's going to drop dead if he keeps this up," Bruce said tonelessly.

"What's he supposed to do – just sit around and do nothing?" Hal felt the immediate urge to defend his friend, despite the fact that he really did agree with Bruce more than a little.

Bruce had nothing to say to that, and Hal kind of wished that he did. He really had no idea how to help Barry aside from wrestling him down and knocking him unconscious, but that was clearly a terrible idea. Not only would Barry be _really_ angry when he woke up, assuming Hal was even able to take him down in the first place, but his time would be better spent awake and trying to find his nephew – even if the intense searching was bringing out a really dark side of Barry that none of them ever knew was there.

Hal would've loved an easy fix, but for now he just had to trust that his friend knew how to snap himself out of it before things got really bad.

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[The Puleski Institute

March 24, 15:00 EST]

"Miss Martian, please link us up," Kaldur requested calmly.

Artemis stood in the middle of M'gann's bio-ship and zipped up the front of her grey and white snow suit. She tucked her long ponytail into the hood and pulled it over her head, slinging her bow over her shoulder. Instantly, she felt the sensation of two foreign consciousnesses inside her head. She felt M'gann's overwhelming grief and Kaldur's quiet anger and determination, along with her own emotions – which she was _so_ not going to think about at the moment. Not with Kaldur and M'gann in her head.

A hole opened up in the bottom of the bio-ship, and Artemis jumped down to the snow below, landing with a crunch. She nocked an arrow and took off running towards the nearest ice encrusted shed in the compound. Kaldur wasn't far behind her, his water bearers out but not activated. He peeked into one of the windows in the shed while Artemis turned to scan their surroundings.

M'gann had dropped them down right in front of the abandoned Puleski Institute. Artemis thought maybe they'd be raiding some run-down college campus by the sound of the name, but the real thing was something straight out of a horror movie. The entire compound was maybe thirteen buildings: a radio tower, a small airplane hangar, several sheds and a large garage with twelve roll down doors, two or three dome shaped-buildings, what looked like a barracks, and the biggest, creepiest, dilapidated structure she'd ever seen. It looked more like a prison than a 'laboratory', especially with the electric fence surrounding the whole compound.

 _"Miss Martian, please search the buildings for any signs of life,"_ Kaldur asked mentally.

 _"I'm on it,"_ M'gann thought a touch more seriously than she usually was. Artemis saw the telltale ripple in the air of M'gann's camouflaged bio-ship taking off. She was able to track it flying into the center of the compound before she lost it in the sky.

Artemis stayed silent, working very hard to suppress her thoughts. She scanned the horizon through her visor, getting a really unsettling vibe from the whole place. There was nothing but snow all around. No trees. No people. No _noise_. Artemis clutched her bow and the arrow she had at the ready, listening to how eerily quiet it was and trying not to admit to herself that she _totally_ believed in ghosts. God, especially after Halloween when she and Zatanna had encountered Greta Hayes and Harm.

 _"The compound is completely clear of all human life,"_ M'gann reported quickly.

 _"What about ghost life?"_ Artemis thought before she could stop herself.

_"What?"_

_"Nothing, sorry."_ Artemis shook her head miserably. _"Too many movie nights with Green Arrow and Black Canary."_

Kaldur eyed her with confusion for several moments but didn't push any further, _"We're going to split up. Miss Martian, I want you to search the barracks. I will case the perimeter and the smaller buildings. Artemis will take the main building. If anyone encounters any kind of trouble, call for help, and we'll tackle it as one. We're looking for anything at all that can tell us more about the speedsters that took Kid Flash. The Justice League is hitting dead ends, and they need more leads."_

 _"We'll do our best,"_ M'gann said confidently over the mind link.

Kaldur placed one hand on Artemis' shoulder bracingly before running off to the front of the shed to kick in the door. Artemis looked over her shoulder at the looming building she was tasked with and felt her stomach squirm uncomfortably. He took a deep breath and ran across the silent courtyard and up to the main doors.

The doors were chained shut with a rusty padlock, and a swift kick from Artemis sent them crashing open. Snow swirled in around Artemis as she took a few steps forward. Most of the windows had been boarded up, letting very little light through aside from the front door. Artemis squinted into the dim room, taking a minute to allow her eyes time to adjust to the dark, and moved into the main foyer. Dusty desks and overturned chairs were all clustered to one side of the entry room, and a massive pile of soot, charred boxes, and files sat in the middle of the floor. Someone had made a bonfire before they left…

Artemis swept the room with her arrow before bypassing the old staircase leading to the upper floors. She kept an arrow trained on the railings above until she'd backed into the next room and checked that one over as well. The residual snow packed onto her boots crunched loudly as she explored the entire first level of the structure, making her glance over her shoulder every other second for someone following her. M'gann had said that the compound was empty, but it paid to be cautious. She quickly doubled back to the first room and began rifling through every drawer in the desks. She found a couple of scattered envelopes and a few supply lists that she quickly translated into English through her visor's digital display. It looked normal enough. Food, gear, bullets, light bulbs, new blankets. Artemis replaced the list in the drawer and looked over at the stairs again.

Time for level two.

She exhaled a shaky breath and took one tentative step onto the rusty staircase. It groaned under her weight, causing her skin to turn icy in response. This place was seriously giving her the creeps. She was totally fine with physical enemies – cool as a cucumber – but her experience in New York with Greta had made her extremely superstitious. Her whole body was on high alert. Artemis continued up the staircase sideways, pointing her arrow straight up as she went. She placed her foot on the next step, and it buckled, dropping half a foot with an echoing metal screech. Artemis shrieked both mentally and out loud, and scrambled up to the landing, her heart fluttering madly in her chest.

 _"Artemis!"_ M'gann sensed her spike of terror instantly.

 _"Hold on,"_ Kaldur thought urgently. _"We are on our way."_

Artemis desperately smothered her hysteria and placed a hand over her heart to calm herself down, _"I'm fine! It was nothing – just almost fell through a staircase. I don't think there's anyone else here. It's just a_ little _freaky in here."_

 _"Are you sure?"_ Kaldur asked skeptically.

 _"I'll be fine,"_ she bent down to retrieve her arrow and continued up to the second floor as fast as she could. _"I've only got two more floors to go."_

With that, she crept up onto the second floor, sneaking through the empty hallways and rooms there too. A second ash pile was sitting in the middle of one of the rooms just like downstairs.

 _"Someone's done some serious housecleaning here,"_ she thought to the others, looking at the discolored patches of floor against the walls where large pieces of equipment once rested. All of the ports built into the walls looked like they'd been hastily removed, leaving gaping holes in the concrete. There was one desk shoved into a corner with a tall filing cabinet turned over beside it. Artemis set her bow on the desk and crouched in front of the cabinet, searching through the half pulled out drawers.

 _"I am encountering the same situation out here,"_ Kaldur informed calmly. _"Almost all of the equipment here has either been destroyed or removed."_

Artemis went through five drawers before she found a small, white corner of something sticking up from the track on the bottommost drawer. She carefully pulled it out to reveal a small, crumpled picture of eight people tightly grouped together in front of the building she was currently in. The windows weren't boarded up, various others in the background had been captured going about their duties, and a military jeep was parked off to the side. Artemis rubbed her thumb across the glossy surface of the photo and held it closer to her face. The picture was of two older men in lab coats standing behind six young teenagers, all staring at the camera with small smiles.

She flipped the photo over in her hands and looked at the back curiously. January 1st, 2000 was written in the top right corner by hand, and a small paragraph was scrawled in Russian in the middle. Artemis translated it with her visor. 'Dr. Orloff and Dr. Krulik with Boleslaw, Anatole, Cassiopeia, Gregor, Bebeck, and Christina.'

Artemis recognized four names off the list. She flipped it back over angrily and glared at the six children, four of which were male. Two of those boys, and one of the girls Artemis was willing to bet, had taken Wally. She folded the photo up and slipped it into the pocket of her jacket. Batman would definitely want to see it, if only to put a face to the attackers.

She retrieved her bow and searched the rest of the room and the entirety of the top floor without finding anything else helpful. She searched the ground floor again for signs of a hidden basement, or secret passageway, or _something_ , but came up empty. Hopefully, Kaldur and M'gann had found something in their parts of the compound.

Artemis exited the building and looked for signs of the others, _"Alright, I tore that building apart, and the only thing I could find was a picture. It has at least two of the speedsters that kidnapped Wally in it."_

 _"Excellent work, Artemis,"_ Kaldur sounded relieved. _"Run the photo through the scanner on the bio-ship and send it to the Watchtower. M'gann and I will meet you there. I am almost finished checking the garage."_

 _"I'll bring her around for you,"_ M'gann offered quickly, and Artemis could see the camouflaged ship slowly lowering to the ground in the center of the courtyard. _"I'm almost done, too. Just two more rooms to go."_

Artemis jogged through the snow as quickly as she could and up the ramp to the bio-ship. Once inside, she directed the ramp to close and then pulled the hood back. She pulled the photo from her jacket and placed it face down onto the wide screen set into one of the seat consoles. Recently, M'gann had assimilated a large variety of Earth tech into her bio-ship in order to better connect it to the Watchtower and the cave in Mt. Justice. Artemis scanned both sides of the photo and sent it straight to the Watchtower.

"Artemis to the Watchtower," she held down the button on her communicator.

There wasn't any answer for a long minute, and when someone finally did send a return transmission, it sounded harried and full of radio static, _"Watchtower here. What is it?"_

She breathed a sigh of relief. It was Wonder Woman on the other end. Artemis still wasn't very confident speaking to seventy percent of the Justice League, but Wonder Woman was something of an idol to her, after Black Canary of course.

"I just sent a photo that I found in the Puleski Institute, and it's got two of the three speedsters in it along with that scientist that Beta Squad is after."

 _"Good work,"_ Wonder Woman said quickly. _"Return to Happy Harbor when Alpha Squad is finished with the mission, and Batman will contact you all for details."_

Artemis frowned at the almost dismissive tone in her voice. She could hear shouting and some kind of loud crackling noise in the background, "Is everything okay up there?"

_"I'm afraid not."_

Artemis immediately stiffened in alarm. Was the Watchtower being attacked again?! Were the Manhunters finally making their move?

 _"One of the decommissioned Manhunters that Green Lantern and Hawkman recovered just disintegrated,"_ Wonder Woman replied. _"We hadn't yet broken into its programming. The Lantern dissecting it must have accidentally activated a failsafe."_

Artemis sat down heavily into one of the seats, letting her bow fall to the floor of the ship with a clatter. Another lead gone… She felt angry tears beginning to fill her eyes and wiped at them hastily. Stupid Wally. They'd been starting to get along really well, and after he'd accepted that Sportsmaster was her father, Artemis had started to let herself crush pretty hard on him. Things that had annoyed her before were endearing now, and Wally had even seemed like he felt the same. And then…nothing.

Wally hadn't flirted with her, or anyone really, or made any moves to ask Artemis out. He'd turned indifferent towards her – not mean – like he just wasn't interested anymore. Then came February, and…everything with his father. Artemis had waited until Wally was mostly healed before trying to make him like her again. She'd learned how to cook, had started wearing more girly clothes around him, and had all but outright _said_ that she liked him, but he didn't seem to notice. She'd even kissed him on the cheek twice to try and make him confront her about it. Okay, no, that had been to show him how much she missed him, but she'd _hoped_ that he would ask her about it later. And then, right after Artemis finally made the decision to change tactics and tell Wally she liked him, he went and got himself kidnapped!

She felt like she'd missed her chance, and now she was never going to see Wally again.

 _"We're going to find him, Artemis,"_ Kaldur's voice was suddenly in her head, and she cringed. She'd been projecting her thoughts…. _"We are a team, and we do not leave each other in the hands of our enemies."_

Artemis stared at the floor of the bio-ship and felt herself nodding even though Kaldur wasn't there to see it. Now wasn't the time to fall apart. She'd have to channel her doubts into something productive.

Like where she was going to stick her arrows into Zoom when she was turning him into a human pin cushion.

"Sea urchin," Kaldur suddenly said out loud from behind her. Artemis jumped up from her seat in surprise and saw the Atlantean making his way up the bio-ship's boarding ramp.

"What?" she directed the hatch to close again and fixed their leader with a confused stare.

Kaldur walked over to the ship's assimilated scanner and lifted the photo Artemis had found to inspect it. "You were thinking that Professor Zoom would look like a pin cushion after you have shot him full of arrows, but once I have dragged him down to the bottom of the ocean, he will more closely resemble a sea urchin."

Artemis stared at Kaldur's back in surprise, feeling her lips pull into a smile, "You're probably right."

 _"Kaldur! Artemis! I found something!"_ M'gann thought excitedly. _"I need some help!"_

Artemis retrieved her bow from the floor and yanked the hood back up over her head. Kaldur hit the release on the ship's ramp, and they both sprinted back out into the cold and through the drifts of snow to the barracks. This building was only two floors and similarly boarded up like the others, and the heavy, steel double doors had been torn right off their hinges. Kaldur and Artemis exchanged alarmed glances and cautiously entered the building.

M'gann had been unusually quiet over their telepathic link, and now Artemis knew why. She'd been throwing all of her concentration into completely tearing the abandoned barracks apart looking for clues. The rooms and hallways looked like they'd been hit by a pack of tornadoes. M'gann hadn't bothered with _any_ doors; she'd just ripped them off and thrown them aside. Every room was a slowly swirling vortex of floating debris. She hadn't _searched_ the rooms – she'd destroyed them. Artemis ducked under a rotating chunk of door, eyeing the devastation in wide-eyed shock.

 _"M'gann…did you do all this?"_ she thought hesitantly.

 _"Yes,"_ the young Martian responded easily, not picking up on her teammate's concern. _"I wanted to be thorough for Wally's sake. Now, hurry. I'll guide you through."_

The look Kaldur sent her told Artemis that he was just as worried about M'gann's display of power as she was, but he led the way once M'gann imparted images to them that showed them how to find her. As they weaved through the first floor, Artemis tried to dodge idly floating smashed furniture and shards of glass from lights that M'gann had exploded. They finally found M'gann hovering a few inches off the floor, auburn hair billowing out around her and eyes glowing green. She turned to face them, revealing a set of stairs that led down into what looked like a ransacked mess identical to the rest of the compound.

 _"This way,"_ M'gann said in their heads harshly, leading the way down the stairs and parting the debris before her to clear a path for them. She stopped in the middle of a hallway that forked at the end. Disabled cameras were mounted at every vantage point, and what used to be an office was located right beside the bottom of the stairs. Artemis followed M'gann to the fork in the hallway and looked around for whatever she'd wanted to show them.

 _"Up there,"_ M'gann pointed to the large ledges hanging over each of the two hallways. _"I almost missed it, but they've been painted over. Nothing else in the building has been, but these were. I need help removing the paint."_

Artemis squinted at one of the ledges, looking for signs of what M'gann had described, but found nothing. She examined the other ledge and immediately spotted it: the black corner of a letter, sticking out from the edge of a hastily done swatch of grey paint. Kaldur carefully guided her to step back a little. He turned to M'gann and gestured to the objects defying gravity all around them.

"Miss Martian, please rest your powers for a moment. I am about to use my own abilities, and it would be helpful to have some gravity," Kaldur placed a hand on M'gann's shoulder, and their teammate seemed to snap out of it.

M'gann's eyes returned to their normal color, and she looked at him in surprise, then all around at what she'd done, "Right! Sorry!"

All around them, the debris dropped to the floor with a loud crash, and M'gann stood back beside Artemis, looking a little embarrassed at how badly she'd lost control. Artemis gave her a friendly nudge with her elbow and a reassuring smile.

"Do not apologize," Kaldur's tattoos flared bright blue, and he commanded twin streams of water into the opposite ends of his water-bearers. "You were merely focusing on your task, and you found something that may be able to help us."

Artemis watched curiously as Kaldur used his water-bearers in a way she'd never seen before. Usually, he held them like hilts to whatever hard water weapon he chose to create, but this time he released two powerful jets of water right at the paint like a pressure washer. He must've been using the new weapons that had been created for him to fight the Manhunters with.

Within minutes, Kaldur had both ledges completely cleared of the cover up paint, and the three of them were staring at the exposed words in confusion. Over one hallway, black lettering spelled out the words 'Red Trinity', and the words 'Blue Trinity' hung over the second hallway.

Artemis felt her guts twist into an uneasy knot, and she stared around at the objects littering the floor, "Miss Martian...how many rooms are down here?"

"Six," she answered immediately, looking down from the signs and at her. "Why?"

Artemis picked her way carefully down the hallway labeled 'Red Trinity' and stooped down to pick up what had caught her eye – a very old and worn teddy bear. She held it up to Kaldur, who seemed to be picking up on her train of thought, "How much do you wanna bet that this is where those six kids in the photo lived?"


	14. Chapter 14

[St. Petersburg

March 24, 15:00 EST]

It had been a little over a day since Wally was taken. They hadn't received any kind of ransom or a body, so he was definitely alive. Flash was positive that Zoom would flaunt it if he'd killed Wally. Plus, Zoom could have killed Wally right then and there on the water if that was his goal. No, he needed Wally for something, which was terrifying because Dick's mind had been running constantly since it happened – coming up with all kinds of horrible things Zoom could be doing to him.

Dick flexed his hands into fists anxiously as Conner steered the Super-Cycle in for a landing right on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. Beside him, Zatanna was fidgeting just as much, though she seemed to be suffering more from nerves. Dick could feel in his gut that this Dr. Orloff had something to do with Wally, and he was going to get answers out of him. One way or another.

Conner parked behind a thick copse of snowy trees, and they all jumped out of the Super-Cycle. Zatanna hugged her white parka and cloak closer while Conner didn't seem to notice the cold at all. He directed the cycle to revert back to its sphere mode, and the vehicle folded up into a ball, "Stay here."

Dick ignored the icy cold and darted to the edge of the trees, looking up the long, snowy slope to the massive mansion that sat at the top of the hill. It looked very well-tended with a sculpted lawn that was easily a hundred acres and a long driveway that led to the one lone road to the city. Whoever lived here didn't want neighbors, and they didn't want the city.

"What's the plan?" Conner was crouched beside Dick in a second, eyeing the mansion angrily.

"Batman's intel said that this is where Orloff lives. The mansion and the property are under a fake name, so it's clear that Orloff doesn't want to be found. He's probably got security around, so we need to be ready for anything. Zee, I need you to make us invisible when we're approaching the mansion," Dick said in a low voice.

Zatanna came over as well, "Turning people invisible is…a little advanced for me. The best I can do is camouflage us like Miss Martian does."

"That's perfect," Dick waved off her worries. "We'll be approaching from the back and entering through the cellar which leads up to the kitchen. Once we're inside, Superboy is going to listen for Orloff. When we find him, we're taking him in for questioning. If we encounter any guards, we take them down. Understood?"

Zatanna nodded, and Conner flexed his muscles eagerly, "Got it."

"Do you hear anything from here?" Dick asked Conner.

The half-Kryptonian shook his head angrily, still glaring at the mansion like he was trying to see though it. He might have been, actually. Dick almost wished that Conner had more of those shields from Luthor if only so that they could know if Wally was in there or not. It was a stretch; the only thing linking Orloff to Wally was a single fiber, but Dick found it irresistible to imagine that his best friend was only a few meters away.

"Just keep listening for anything," Dick sighed. He adjusted the white and grey mask over his face and turned to Zatanna. "Let's move."

She nodded beneath her fur hood and closed her eyes, extending her arms out to Dick and Conner, _"Etaerc a elbbub fo gnigalfuomac ruomalg!"_

Immediately, Dick watched Zatanna's and Conner's bodies reflect the scenery behind them so that it sort of looked like they were invisible. Though every time they moved, the image would distort and give them away. It wasn't ideal, but it would definitely get them past the untrained eye if they were careful. He gave an exaggerated wave for the others to follow him so that they could see, and then he abandoned cover and made for the mansion without another word.

For the most part, the grounds surrounding the building were very open. The denser foliage was mostly concentrated around the mansion like a garden and around the perimeter of the land. There were only a few trees scattered in the middle of the slope, so Dick had to aim for them like he was playing some large scale version of connect the dots. He'd made it halfway to the mansion when Conner suddenly grabbed the scruff of his heavy winter cloak and yanked him back just as a whistling dark blur slammed into the tree he'd been crouching against.

The tree splintered apart at the point of impact and crashed to the ground with a loud crunch. The dark blur stilled to reveal a tall, lean man who looked to be in his mid-twenties dressed in a dark blue turtleneck and black cargo pants. He had short, tousled blond hair and angry blue eyes which were focused right on him. Dick glared right back at him and hurled a batarang at his face, not holding back anything. This man was a speedster, and he was lurking around the residence of one of their leads to finding Wally. Any idiot could put the pieces together – this was one of the three speedsters who had kidnapped Wally.

The blond man zipped to the side to avoid Dick's attack but only just _barely_ escaped getting grazed by it. He became a blur again as he tried to run away, but Conner lunged forward and actually _caught_ him, jerking him back violently and slamming him into the ground. He pulled his fist back for another strike, and a second blur sped by and knocked him off balance. Conner toppled over onto his back right as the blur skidded to a halt. A second blond man, this one taller and slightly heavier, straightened up a few yards away and charged back at them with a loud roar. Dick pulled a set of bolas from his utility belt, twirled them around, and expertly hurled them at the second speedster's legs. They connected with a loud clack but missed their target by a good foot.

That…was weird. Dick had watched the footage from Wally's goggles a million times. He'd memorized the movements of every speedster captured by the camera and had a rough estimate of their speeds neatly catalogued in his brain. But he'd miscalculated. He'd thrown the bolas with a much faster speedster in mind, but this one was too slow to intercept the aerial attack like he should have. Come to think of it, the first blond had been slower than expected too. Dick had attacked him purely out of rage, but his missile had almost hit. Even Wally would have been a mile away before that batarang had flown a few inches.

Conner didn't seem to be having such doubts. The second blond man hooked an arm around his neck in a chokehold and drove a knee into Conner's kidney. The half-Kryptonian simply reached back and grabbed the speedster's red shirt, lifting him over his head and throwing him right into his companion.

_"Ekam a pmar!"_

Dick spun around to see Zatanna holding her arms out defensively at a _third_ speedster that was running full tilt at her. The snow in front of her rose suddenly into a steep, white ramp. The blur charged straight up it and went flying into the air from the momentum, landing several feet away in a heap. Dick stood motionless and watched the figure sit up, dazed. This one was a woman, very slender and petite in build with straight, black shoulder length hair. She, too, was slower than he remembered – hilariously slower.

What the…?

There were three speedsters here, of that there was no doubt. There were two men and one woman, just like the trio that had attacked Wally. However, where _they_ had been lightning fast, ruthless, fighting machines, _these_ three were the exact opposite. They were easily less than _half_ of Wally's normal speed, second-rate combatants at best, and seemed to have no clue who they were fighting if one of them thought that punching Conner at normal human speed would have any effect at all.

Something was wrong.

He pulled a weighted net from his belt and threw it over one of the prone men on the ground, trapping him in place, "Restrain them, but don't hurt them!"

Conner looked at him like he was crazy but managed to reign in his temper enough to comply. He wrestled the second blond into a complex hold that Black Canary had taught them back in February and pressed his face into the snow.

Zatanna pointed at the female, who was just shaking off the fall, _"Egnahc sehtolc otni sgnidnib!"_

The woman's thick blue coat ripped itself into wide strips and wound around her arms and legs, sending her to the ground again with a cry.

Dick frowned at the three speedsters in confusion. He crossed his arms over his chest and relaxed his stance – something he _never_ did in the middle of a battle. Zatanna released the camouflaging spell, and Dick could see that Conner had calmed down enough from his rage to know that something was up.

Zatanna tentatively drew back the hood on her cloak and put one hand on her hip, "Is it just me, or was that _really_ easy?"

Dick looked down at the squirming and struggling speedsters with narrowed eyes. These weren't the same three that had taken down Wally, Max, and Jay. They weren't skilled enough – or fast enough – to reach the kinds of speeds that Dick had seen in the footage of the attack. So, who were they? Decoys?

One of the blond speedsters shouted something at them from the net he was tangled in, but it was in Russian. Dick gave Zatanna a pointed look and nodded towards the three captives wordlessly.

"I can translate," she offered quickly. _"Tel su dnatsrednu dna kaeps Naissur."_

Dick waited a moment for the spell to take effect and then addressed the speedster who had spoken, "What did you say?"

"You are here to kill Dr. Orloff, yes?" he growled in fury, craning his neck in Conner's arms to see them better.

Dick's eyebrows turned downwards. So, they were expecting assassins. "That depends; we haven't decided yet. Right now, things aren't looking too good for him, but we're willing to sit down and have a friendly chat with him first."

"We will never tell you where he is!" the female speedster spat.

"The mansion?" Zatanna guessed, jerking her thumb up the hill with a shrug.

The shorter man laughed defiantly at her, "He is long away by now. We are a distraction so that he can escape!"

Dick exchanged a look with Zatanna and Conner. He opened his mouth to respond when he was interrupted by Conner looking up at the mansion sharply. The three disabled speedsters grew abruptly horrified – like they were afraid. Dick turned as well in time to see a distant, hunched over figure making its way down the hill towards them. He pulled out a batarang and held it at the ready, but as the figure drew nearer, Dick could see that it was an old man with a cane slowly and carefully crunching through the snow.

The biggest speedster put up a desperate struggle to escape, his dark eyes wide in fear, "No! Dr. Orloff, _run!_ "

"We will be fine!" The dark-haired woman cried from where she lay on the ground. "Please go!"

Zatanna frowned and leaned in to whisper in Dick's ear, "They don't seem very evil…"

He had to agree with her. His instincts were telling him that these three weren't exactly dangerous, but he kept his guard up. He wasn't willing to chance being wrong when it might compromise them finding something that could help locate Wally.

The old man ignored the three speedsters' cries for him to flee and hobbled right up to Dick. He was wearing a light coat with the hood pulled back to expose his face. He was older, for sure, and bald with a long, grizzled beard and wrinkled eyes, but it was definitely the same man from the security clearance mug shot that Bruce had supplied them with.

"Dr. Orloff!" The biggest one yelled again in a last ditch effort to free himself. "Why are you not running?! They are here to kill you!"

"No, they aren't," Orloff spoke in a raspy, wheezing voice. "They are young heroes from America. Take a close look at them."

The three speedsters paused in their frantic struggles to scrutinize Dick, Conner, and Zatanna. The woman frowned in confusion, "I don't recognize their costumes. Are you sure?"

Orloff nodded, coming to a stop right beside the netted speedster and standing with both hands gripping the top of his cane. He made no moves to help any of them, "They are made to blend with the snow, I am sure. This one is The Robin from Gotham City."

Recognition suddenly bloomed in their eyes, and they all strained to get a closer look. Orloff pointed the end of his cane at Conner's chest, "And, you know that symbol."

"You're Superman?" the shorter blond asked in sudden awe. He wriggled in the net to get a better look.

"Uh…no," Conner said uncomfortably. He eased up a little on his hold and gave the speedster beneath him some room to breathe. "I'm Superboy. Superman's…sort of a mentor."

They all broke into wide smiles despite the fact that the object of their admiration had just given them a thrashing not five minutes ago. That was when Dick fully dropped his guard. They were _fanboying_ over Conner. Who the heck _were_ these guys?

"Why have you come to visit us?" the female asked. "And how did you find us?"

 _"Bebeck_ ," Orloff scolded sharply. "These are our comrades from America that you have wrongly attacked. Ask for their forgiveness and tend to any injuries you have caused."

All three perked up in shame and started asking all at once if they were alright and if they needed any medical assistance. Dick just stood there, arms hanging at his sides in numb disbelief.

What…?

"Dr. Orloff, can you cut me loose?" the blond trapped in the net asked mutedly.

"No. That is up to the young heroes. They should trust us enough to free you themselves," Orloff said in stubborn exasperation. "It's your own faults for being so foolhardy. I know that I raised you better."

Conner and Zatanna both looked to Dick for his orders, and he made a snap decision.

"Set them loose," Dick flicked out a batarang and sliced a long gash into the net. Conner released his captive, and Zatanna reversed her spell. "We should be fine. I don't think these three are fighters."

"We are not the fighting type," the largest one admitted once he had gotten to his feet. He circled Conner curiously, admiring the uncomfortable teen closely. "But we are not usually beaten so easily."

"It's not your fault," Conner said awkwardly. "We're used to sparring with someone who's a _lot_ faster than you. Uh, no offense…"

"That's actually why we're here," Dick addressed Orloff directly. "Our teammate was taken by three speedsters wearing white and blue, and during our investigation, your name came up along with Dr. Krulik and the Puleski Institute."

The effect was instantaneous. Orloff and the speedsters all grew grim and turned a few shades paler. Orloff clutched his cane tightly and gestured to his home, "Let's speak inside. I will answer any questions you have."

Dick nodded and allowed the speedsters to lead them up the hill to the mansion. He gave a silent hand signal to Conner and Zatanna to stay on the speedsters just in case. They all entered the ornately decorated mansion together, and Orloff brought them to a sitting room with a roaring fire. Dick and Zatanna both shed their heavy cloaks and pulled back their hoods. With only his domino mask covering his face, the speedsters seemed to recognize Dick more easily.

Dr. Orloff took a seat by the fire, and the speedsters sat by him protectively. He gestured for Dick, Conner, and Zatanna to join him as well, but they remained standing. "I know who the speedsters are who took your friend. I am responsible for creating their powers."

Dick saw Conner tense up out of the corner of his eye.

"But, they are not with us for many years now," the taller blond said angrily, implying that he didn't want anyone to think they had anything to do with each other.

"Please," Orloff held out a hand to quiet him and looked back at Dick. "Believe me, we intend no harm to you. I have seen on the American news that you are allies of the hero Flash. We consider ourselves friends of the Flash, though we have never met. As you know, I am Dr. Pytor Orloff. These are my children."

"Cassiopeia, Anatole, and Bebeck," he gestured to the biggest blond first, then the blue-eyed, slightly shorter blond, and then finally to the black-haired woman.

"Robin, Superboy, and Zatanna. Nice to meet you." Dick said in a flat tone, arms crossed over his chest and a grim frown set on his face. He wasn't in the mood to waste time. "Tell us who the speedsters are and what you meant by you 'created' them."

"If my name and Krulik's came up in your search, then the three you are looking for are named Gregor Gregorovich, Boleslaw Uminski, and Christina Alexandrova. They are also my children in a sense," Orloff said with a heavy sense of regret.

Dick nodded silently. Two males, one female. It matched up so far. "What else?"

Orloff sighed deeply and frowned down at the oriental carpet spread over the floor as if he was trying to recall a very old memory, "Many years ago, Krulik and I were inspired by the first Flash to create a formula to recreate his speed. We received funding from our government and began working on completing our own serum. Eight years later, we were able to begin testing on animals with varying degrees of success. We altered the serum, fixed the problems with it, and spent the next four years monitoring the results, followed by more testing. Eventually, Krulik became unhappy with just animals. He wanted to start human trials, but I did not feel we were ready. The government agreed with me and would not authorize it, so Krulik tested the serum on himself to prove it was ready. It worked."

"After that, the government supplied us with volunteers – which I later discovered meant stolen children. We administered the serum and began testing the limits of the superspeed. During one test…the friction from the air burned Krulik alive after he almost broke the sound barrier. After that, I restricted the children from using their speed until a solution could be found. I partnered with S.T.A.R. Labs to create suits that would protect them from the friction. They already had a prototype material that I was able to modify to withstand the elements," Orloff sat forward in his seat and clasped his hands together. "The suits worked. They allowed the children to safely run at their fastest speeds but opened them up to new dangers. The government started deploying them on secret missions – using them for the military. That was not what I had signed up for. I wanted to pursue the benefits that such speed could bring to our society – accelerating the healing process, adapting the formula to increase crop growth, harnessing the energy for fuel. I never wanted the serum to be used for military applications."

"What kind of missions were they being sent on?" Zatanna asked quietly.

"Ones that my conscience could not abide," Orloff looked at her gravely. "I was not initially informed of the missions and did not find out until some of my children told me what they were being forced to do. Christina, Gregor, and Boleslaw liked the missions. They were fiercely loyal to the government above anything and had grown up to be ruthless. Anatole, Bebeck, and Cassiopeia here preferred my peaceful experiments. They were the ones who informed me about what was happening. I didn't want the government using my children as weapons, so I arranged to help them escape and hid them. I destroyed all traces of the serum and my research so that no one else could ever be used again. Christina, Boleslaw, and Gregor pretended to go along with my plan but betrayed us at the last second."

"They told the soldiers we were going to run and when it would happen. We almost didn't make it out," Anatole said angrily. "That was four years ago. We haven't seen our brothers and sister since then. We have been hiding from the government under fake names all over the country."

"But, we are tired of hiding," Bebeck crossed her arms over her chest.

Cassiopeia put a comforting hand on her shoulder and looked right at Dick and the rest of beta squad. "My brother and sister have wanted to immigrate to America for some time now, but I am not wanting to leave Russia. They are thinking about starting a courier service."

Dick nodded, taking a moment to process everything. Orloff and his three children were speaking the truth. They didn't want to be associated with the three speedsters that had taken Wally and had been more than willing to help. "Do you have any way of tracking them?"

"I never did," Orloff shook his head. "The soldiers stationed at the institute had implanted trackers in all of their arms that I had to remove myself before we ran, but since Christina, Gregor, and Boleslaw stayed, they may have been implanted again."

"Why would the government kidnap an American hero?" Bebeck questioned.

"I don't think your government has control of your brothers and sister anymore," Dick tapped a few keys on his gauntlet computer and pulled up a glowing holographic image of the two male speedsters and Professor Zoom. "They were working with this supercriminal."

Orloff looked overcome with grief as he eyed the hologram. He reached out like he was trying to touch the images of the two speedsters suited in blue and white, "Gregor and Boleslaw…"

Bebeck, Anatole, and Cassiopeia didn't look like they shared his regret. They all glared at their two brothers balefully.

"Where is Christina?" Anatole gestured to the video.

"We recovered a woman's voice from our friend's goggles, but we have no video of her," Dick rewound the footage and paused it when a single finger slipped over the lens. "She's the one holding the camera."

"It _is_ Christina," Cassiopeia said with gruff certainty. "Gregor and Boleslaw would not have gone anywhere without her. We were raised in teams. They were codenamed Blue Trinity. We were Red Trinity. We do not leave our brothers and sisters."

"That's why their betrayal is so unforgiveable," Bebeck clenched her fists and looked away from the hologram to stare into the crackling fire.

"It was one thing to do the government's dirty work, but working for a criminal like Professor Zoom makes them just as bad," Cassiopeia agreed.

"We need to know everything you can tell us about them," Conner stepped forward. He also seemed to have come to the conclusion that these four were allies. "We're a team too, and we have to find our brother."

"Whatever you need," Anatole said without hesitation.

"Tell us about their powers and weaknesses," Dick asked, turning on a recording device in his glove. The League might need it later. "Anything we can use against them."

Orloff didn't speak. He just sat there silently, looking upset, so Cassiopeia told them everything instead, "They'll have had _much_ more combat training than we have, and they're a little stronger, but not much faster than we are. If you took _us_ down so easily, you shouldn't-"

"Wait," Zatanna cocked her head to the side in confusion, holding up one hand. "They're faster than _Flash_. The uh – new one, not the old one – but you guys are a lot slower than his partner."

"Faster than the second Flash?" Orloff looked up suddenly, interested enough to ignore his grief. "That is impossible. I worked my hardest on the speed serum, and I was only able to achieve the speed of sound. It is true that Blue Trinity is faster and stronger, but they cannot match the Flash's speed. We ran endless tests, and the serum simply cannot replicate that kind of velocity."

Wordlessly, Dick pulled up the footage of the attack and let it run completely through to just before Zoom said Wally's name. His identity was already in enough jeopardy. Dick wasn't about to have anyone else find out who Wally really was.

Red Trinity stared at the holograph in open mouthed horror while Orloff looked on furiously, "They have been experimented on. That is not my serum working by itself."

"Can you tell what else is making them faster?" Dick asked.

"Not without a blood sample," Orloff said grimly.

"If we're able to recover one, we'll bring it to you," Dick said quickly, ignoring the questioning looks Conner and Zatanna were giving him. They _did_ have blood samples, but he wasn't about to let Orloff and Red Trinity know that just yet. As helpful and sincere as they seemed, he wasn't going to make that call for the League. They had enough people analyzing the samples already.

"They shouldn't be moving that fast," Orloff watched the footage once more. "That's what killed Krulik. His body wasn't properly adapted to the serum, and he burned alive when he pushed too fast. The suits prevent that, but even _they_ fail at certain speeds. A big enough tear would leave the speedster wearing it vulnerable to friction burns. You see, after Krulik died, I did everything I could to solve it, but there was no solution. I theorized that all of the speedsters who have received their powers in some sort of accident generate a protective aura when they run that shields them from friction damage and particles in the air from tearing holes into them. _Something_ protects them that doesn't protect my children. That is the only weakness that I know of – breach their suits, and they are limited to running slower than the speed of sound."

Dick nodded quickly, powering down his gauntlet hologram, "That's really helpful, thank you. Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"You know all that we do now," Cassiopeia came forward and held out a hand to Conner. "We _are_ sorry that we attacked you. Dr. Orloff has risked all for us, and he is like our father. We are very protective of him."

Conner stared at him a little uncomfortably at first but shook the offered arm with a small smile, "This more than makes up for it, trust me. We're good."

Anatole and Bebeck followed their brother's lead and apologized for acting before they knew the full situation. Dick couldn't blame them. If someone had been creeping up on the Batcave or Mt. Justice under an invisibility spell and unannounced, he would've reacted the exact same way.

For a moment, Zatanna looked like she was ready to flat out reject them. Her face was drawn tight in a frown, and her eyes were fixed on the trio almost suspiciously, "Orloff said you all were 'stolen' as children. If that's true, then why didn't you go back to your families? Why stay with _him_?"

Dick suddenly understood. She hadn't been distrustful; she'd been confused. Of course it would bother her that Red Trinity had been separated from their parents when she so recently had her father taken away.

"Dr. Orloff was not the one who took us," Bebeck defended him immediately. "He wanted to help track down our families once we were free, but we could not go back to them with our government always looking for us."

"Dr. Orloff has treated us like family and risked everything to keep us safe," Anatole agreed with a fond smile at the quiet geneticist. "We chose to stay with him."

Dick felt himself smile a little once Zatanna's worry seemed to clear. He turned to address Orloff again, "Thank you for your help. The Justice League won't forget this. And you have my word that no one else will know your location."

Orloff just stood up from his chair and made his way over to beta squad, "I have no right to ask this, but if you come across Blue Trinity…please don't hurt them."

Dick wanted to refuse the request. Blue Trinity had torn Jay Garrick and Max Crandall apart without mercy. They didn't deserve any leniency in return, especially not after hurting Wally. That was unforgiveable. But Orloff was asking as a father pleading for his lost children, whom he still cared deeply for.

"No promises," he said finally. "We'll do what we have to in order to save our friend, but we _will_ try and find out if Blue Trinity is being mind controlled or coerced first. If they are, we'll save them too, but…it really doesn't look that way."

Orloff looked unhappy at that, but he nodded his understanding.

"Superboy, call Sphere. We need to report back ASAP," Dick directed him. Conner nodded and left the house without question. Zatanna remained by Dick's side while he lingered in the room's doorway. He looked Orloff right in the eyes and said one last thing before following Conner out. "We'll contact you once this is all settled, and if you ever decide that you want to leave Russia, the Justice League will personally bring you over and set you up with new lives. Just give us a call."

Then, he tossed a one-way, encrypted communicator to Cassiopeia.

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[The Watchtower

March 24, 19:00 EST]

Roy fired an arrow directly at Wonder Woman. It flew just under her elbow and struck the Manhunter holding her in a headlock dead in the chest. The arrowhead sank all the way in, and Roy detonated it by pushing a button on the grip of his bow. The explosion blew the Manhunter's back open and tore its head and shoulders off. Wonder Woman grabbed the arm still wrapped around her neck and used it to bodily throw the splintered android into another one firing energy blasts at Hawkwoman.

She tossed Roy a grateful nod for the assist and rose up into the air to better see their situation, bringing up her arms to deflect several energy blasts with her gauntlets. Roy dropped to one knee and spun around to duck beneath a Manhunter that took a swipe at him with its baton. He nocked a trick arrow and fired it up directly through the Manhunter's chin into its head. Roy flicked a second button by his ring finger, and the arrow dissolved into a fog of nanotech robots that quickly consumed the Manhunter in seconds. He dove to the side in a roll to dodge a volley of energy blasts and got to his feet running.

They were going on day two of Wally being missing.

Roy leapt over a fallen Manhunter that was still fizzling after a powerful hit from Shayera's mace. Wonder Woman gave a great cry of rage and thrust her sword into the core of another Manhunter, extending her leg out to kick its arm harmlessly aside.

Their leads were running out, and the only things Dick and his teammates had come back with were names and a way to defeat enemies that they had no way to find.

Roy heard Hawkwoman smash her mace into another Manhunter with a loud metal clang. He sprinted to one end of the room to get some distance, feeling the vibrations through the floor of another Manhunter chasing him. Roy aimed behind him with a glance and fired an arrow into the floor. The tip exploded in a burst of polyurethane foam, snaring the Manhunter's legs and sending it crashing to the floor face first.

The deactivated Manhunters that Hal and his Lanterns found had all self-destructed after one colossal screw up triggered a failsafe built into all of them. So, their progress there had been completely erased, and Flash was no closer to identifying the substances he'd found in Gregorovich's and Uminski's blood samples. Batman was attempting to hack some more and find out which officers may have had access to the trackers implanted in Blue Trinity – if they were even still there.

Roy darted forward and snatched up the fallen energy baton. He slammed one foot down onto the Manhunter's shoulders, keeping it down, and shoved the barrel of the baton against its back. He relentlessly fired blast after blast into the armor plating until it started to melt and reveal the core inside. He forced the baton down further and kept firing the weapon until he heard the core shatter, and the Manhunter went limp. Leaving the baton sticking straight up out of its back, Roy abandoned the android and started firing arrows into the air at the Manhunters flying around.

Roy wanted his little brother found _now_.

He nocked three explosive arrows at once and fired them all at a Manhunter that Wonder Woman had just thrown into the ground. It detonated with a deafening boom, bursting into flames and billowing clouds of smoke. Sweat poured down into Roy's eyes, and he ignored it, gritting his teeth and readying another arrow as he turned in a circle looking for a new target. There were no more Manhunters left standing. Wonder Woman and Hawkwoman had both landed and were staring at him with their weapons hanging at their sides. Shayera looked vaguely annoyed, and Wonder Woman seemed alarmed at the extreme violence Roy had just displayed on an already downed foe.

" _What_?" he asked harshly, chest heaving for air. He dragged his arm across his forehead and collapsed his bow, clipping it to his hip.

"There's no honor in kill stealing," Shayera pulled off her mask and pointed it at the smoldering Manhunter that Roy had just reduced to scrap metal. "Wonder Woman was about to finish that last one off before you decided to drop all that Star City rage on it."

"They're _robots_ ," Roy said gruffly, not in the mood to indulge the Thanagarian's little contest. He stalked past them both, shrugging off the concerned hand Wonder Woman tried to rest on his shoulder. "You can't kill a robot."

"They still count for the score," Shayera insisted, bringing her mace up to rest on her shoulder with a thud.

"They aren't even real," Roy growled. He bent down to retrieve the tip of his nanotech arrow and pressed the button that recalled the minuscule robots. "They're Lantern constructs; they don't count for anything."

"Hey now," John Stewart crossed his arms over his chest. He dismissed the glowing green Manhunter wreckage, and the only thing left was the smoke from the explosions. "Kilowog and I put a lot of detail into those constructs. _I_ thought they were pretty real."

"I saw top notch melting, and those noises sounded like metal to me. We got the weight right and everything," Kilowog snorted unhappily. "Maybe we should make some more for him to fight until he sees how real they are."

"I don't have time for this," Roy sighed angrily. He glared up at the eight and a half foot tall Bolovaxian, undaunted. "Are we through with this training session or not?"

Kilowog powered his ring down and fell from where he'd been hovering. He landed with a loud thud, bending his knees to absorb the impact. He loomed over Roy impressively, but Roy was _far_ too stubborn to react with anything but a scowl. "Training's over when I _say_ it is, poozer. You should be grateful we have _time_ to train before the Manhunters attack. Most don't know how to fight them in time for it to matter."

"Well, I already know how to fight," Roy rolled his eyes in frustration. "And, you've been teaching us _how_ to take out Manhunters for a week. So, if you're done, I've got more important things to do."

"Like looking for Wally?" Wonder Woman asked disapprovingly. That made Roy's blood boil. Why the hell _shouldn't_ he be looking for Wally?

"Yes," he ground out, daring her to tell him he couldn't.

"Just be careful," she shifted her weight to her other foot and placed one hand on her hip. "I see Flash getting worse by the day. I don't want you to end up the same way."

Roy cocked an eyebrow at her. He considered himself to be on Barry Allen's side whenever he heard Leaguers whisper that Flash was pushing himself to dangerous limits looking for his nephew. Most of them just didn't understand how close they were. Roy remembered the first time he'd met Wally and Barry together. They'd run out to Star City to help Ollie and Hal out of a supervillain death trap they'd stupidly run right into – and dragged Roy along with. When Barry and Wally arrived, the way they acted around each other just _felt_ like they were father and son. Now, he knew that Barry probably _was_ the closest thing Wally ever had to a real father. And apparently Barry felt the same way about Wally being his son because he really was doing anything it took to get him back.

A few hours ago, he'd heard news reports that the Flash had grabbed a Central City villain named Doctor Alchemy right out of his cell in Iron Heights Penitentiary without any word or explanation. And he still hadn't brought him back yet. Barry had ditched his locator beacon and wasn't responding to any of the Watchtower's attempts to contact him.

It really was a massive problem – the Justice League could _not_ afford to have one of its founding members breaking into prisons and freeing inmates. Although, Roy very much doubted that Doctor Alchemy was 'free' at the moment. He sort of got the feeling that the villain would rather be in Iron Heights instead of with the Flash right now. Superman and Martian Manhunter were currently trying to find Barry and minimize the impending fallout with the press.

Roy knew that the situation was really bad, but if Barry had done something this stupid, it had to be for a damn good reason. It had to do with finding Wally; Roy was sure of it, and so he hoped that they didn't find Barry until he'd gotten whatever he needed.

Turning on his heel and stalking out of the Watchtower training room, Roy decided not to answer Wonder Woman. He sure as hell wasn't waiting to be dismissed by some Green Lantern drill sergeant either. They were only half right, anyways. Roy wanted nothing more than to be able to go out and look for Wally, but that wasn't what he was setting out to do right now. He had other responsibilities. Star City had gone unpatrolled for several days, and Roy had heard that the looting was getting a little out of hand after the public was made aware of the possible Manhunter attack. He'd also heard that Merlyn was back in town, which was just…perfect… and he needed to check on his other little brother before he did anything else. Dick was bound to be handling this badly, and Roy was on his way to see him right now.

Roy was able to leave the Watchtower unimpeded. He used the zeta tubes to teleport straight to Mt. Justice where he expected to find the Team rallying after returning from their mission.

_"Recognize: Red Arrow – 21"_

Roy stepped out into the cave, feeling an intense, nagging sense of wrongness that he was here instead of spending every free second looking for Wally. He took a second to collect himself, covering his face with one hand and taking a steadying breath. If he was honest with himself, Roy knew that he wasn't going to be the one to find Wally. He could kick in every door in Star City, search the streets twelve times over, and interrogate any living creature he came across, and it still wouldn't get him anywhere. Flash was already doing exactly that and coming up empty. Roy would just be wasting time that way. He was much more useful handling everything else so that the other heroes like Green Lantern and Batman could give their full attention to finding Wally – which was why he'd spent the last few days picking up patrol shifts in Gotham, Metropolis, Central and Coast Cities.

"Has there been any news from the Justice League?" Kaldur's calm voice asked from somewhere on Roy's left.

He dropped his arm and looked over at his friend grimly, "Nothing new since a few hours ago. The Flash is still AWOL, the Manhunters that the Green Lanterns confiscated are completely destroyed, and the Lantern teams hunting down all the Manhunter bases reached a dead end in South America, Italy, and China. They're tearing apart everything looking for more leads, but so far they haven't found any more deactivated Manhunters and only twelve factories."

Kaldur was standing alone in the mission briefing room. Above him, every scrap of information they'd uncovered about Professor Zoom and Blue Trinity was displayed on the computer's holo screens. The quiet Atlantean crossed his arms and turned back to the screen, "I have been going over everything since we returned."

Roy went over to stand beside one of his oldest friends, scanning the open windows for any new information, "Find anything yet?"

"….No," Kaldur said after a moment. He looked sideways at Roy then, and his eyes were pale with anger. "I do not like being useless."

"Trust me, I know the feeling," Roy clapped Kaldur on the back once. "Where are the others?"

Kaldur sighed and hunched over the console, leaning heavily on his hands, "Superboy was in the hangar with Miss Martian the last time I saw them. I believe Artemis is in her room. She stormed away the second we landed in the bio-ship. Zatanna could be anywhere. She attempted to console Robin after they learned that the Manhunters the Green Lanterns found had been destroyed, but he was in no frame of mind to listen to her."

"Where is he?" Roy rocked back on his heels, fearing the worst.

Kaldur pulled up a video of Dick in the cave's gym. He nodded towards the live feed in concern, "He has been there for hours."

"Great…" Roy sighed. He gave Kaldur another nudge and headed off to the gym. "I've got him. I came by to check on him real quick, and then I'm off to Star for the night if you need me."

"I will call," Kaldur said after him. "Good luck."

Roy raised one arm in farewell, not looking back. He found Dick in the gym just like the cameras had implied. The boy wonder was on the rings, twenty feet off the ground, and holding himself upside down in a rigid vertical pose. Roy looked at the sweat pouring off his youngest brother and noticed his arms shaking with effort. Dick released the pose, swinging his legs down and using the momentum to flip over. He released the rings as he somersaulted in the air and caught them again on the way down. Dick extended his legs straight out in front of him in a ninety degree angle and looked ahead to see Roy watching him from the doorway.

He was still in his white and grey polar stealth suit, minus the cape and the hood. He had to be roasting in it. Roy motioned for Dick to come down, and he moved towards the nearest bench where his brother had carelessly tossed his gear.

Dick dropped his legs again, swinging his whole body backwards. He let his arms fall out to the side and swung forwards in a dive, releasing the rings and dismounting in a back flip. Roy sighed and snatched a water bottle from the cooler against the wall, already knowing what was about to happen without having to look. Dick landed on his hands with the intent to spring up onto his feet gracefully, but his arms gave out on him, and he tumbled clumsily across the mat with a grunt of pain. He rolled onto his back and just lay there, sprawled out and glaring up at the ceiling with his arms bonelessly thrown out wide.

Roy tossed the bottle of water at him, "That was stupid."

It hit him in the shoulder and bounced away. Dick directed his glare at Roy for a split second and then turned away, refusing to move an inch.

Roy walked over and retrieved the water bottle, settling down cross legged on the mat beside the young hero. He unscrewed the cap and tilted the bottle side to side to get his attention, "Are you going to drink this or do I have to pour it on your face to get you to hydrate?"

Dick tossed another glare his way and continued to lie on his back, jaw locked shut and breathing heavily out of his nose. Roy set the bottle down and leaned forward on his knees, "You've been in here too long. You need a break."

"I'm resting right now, aren't I?" Dick snapped at him suddenly.

Roy ground his teeth together and restrained himself from yelling at his brother, "I get that you're frustrated, and you feel like you should be doing something productive instead of just waiting around for something to happen."

"That's an understatement," Dick said bitterly. "Batman put us on _standby_ until we get another lead."

Roy grabbed Dick's hand and forced him to take the water bottle, "So, you decided to kill yourself with an Olympic level rings routine instead?"

"I don't know what else to do!" Dick sat up suddenly, flinging the water aside in anger. "It's about to be two days, and we're no closer to finding Wally! I can't just stand by and do nothing while some lunatic has him, but I have nothing else to go on! I feel like I'm losing my mind!"

"And you think _he's_ doing any better?" Roy said levelly, pulling Dick out of his rant and shutting him up. He stared right into his brother's tormented blue eyes and jabbed him in the chest with one finger. "You need to keep it together. We're _going_ to find Wally, and when the call comes in for us to go get him, we need to be ready – not feeling sorry for ourselves that we're so helpless."

Roy felt like a huge hypocrite saying those words, but they made a lot of sense when they weren't being directed at him.

"I'm not ten anymore. I know you have no idea if that's true or not," Dick called him out with a half scowl.

"Do you want to go around believing that we're never going to see him again?"

Roy felt his heart constrict as he watched Dick's expression crumple in shock. His wide blue eyes started to fill with startled tears, and Roy really felt like a prick for catching him off guard like that. He reached out and hooked an arm around Dick's shoulders, pulling him in close. "I'm sorry. I didn't come here to be mean."

Dick didn't say anything. He just leaned against Roy and stared miserably at the floor mat, refusing to let even a single tear fall.

"I know you miss him. I do too. And I know you're scared for him," Roy squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. "Especially with how much you like him."

Dick tensed up, and his eyes darted all over Roy's face in alarm.

"I'm not stupid," Roy cocked an eyebrow at his surprise. "And I'm not blind. I saw how you were looking at him that night at Barry and Iris' house."

Dick didn't deny it. He looked down at his hands with his eyebrows drawn together.

"I really didn't want to deal with this until the whole Manhunter thing was over," Roy dragged a hand through his cropped hair. "Have you decided what you're going to do yet?"

Dick chewed at the inside of his cheek for a long minute and then nodded slowly. He looked up at Roy and opened his mouth to speak when a shrill beeping alarm went off at the base of Roy's skull. He jumped in surprise and groped at the back of his neck. What the hell?!

His fingers brushed against something thin and metallic fixed to the collar of his uniform. Roy brought both hands up and worked at the device to get it loose. Dick got to his knees to help him and had it free in seconds, handing it off to him hesitantly. Roy snatched the thin, beeping gadget and stared at it in bewilderment, turning it over in his fingers and seeing a faintly blinking green light and a small antennae poking out of one corner.

"Jesus," Dick breathed suddenly, still looking behind Roy. "How the hell did you get those claw marks?"

Roy's head snapped up instantly and his fist closed around the device, heartbeat going into overdrive.

Cheshire.

"I have to go," he scrambled to his feet and was bolting for the door before Dick had time to react. He reached back and hastily removed the tablet from the bottom of his quiver as he ran. She'd planted a tracer on him! That was why she'd had her arms around his neck so much last night. Roy pulled up his own tracking software and fumbled to select Cheshire's name.

"Roy!" he heard Dick shouting behind him. Roy looked over his shoulder and saw Dick running after him. He turned down a branching off hallway and sprinted for the nearest zeta tubes. "What's going on?! What happened?"

The small map on the screen rolled across the country to California. The blinking dot was in Star City. Cheshire had contacted him and obviously wanted him to come to her since she was so far away. Roy checked the time on the tablet. 7:39 at night. It had been a little over one day. Did she really have something for him already?

"Stay here," Roy muttered distractedly, narrowing down Cheshire's coordinates for a landmark or an address.

"No way!" Dick caught up to him and grabbed for his arm. "Something big just happened; I can tell. I'm going with you!"

" _Dick!_ " Roy shrugged him off impatiently, still trying to pinpoint the coordinates. Something was seriously wrong about the area of Star City that the tracker was identifying. Too many of the street names sounded _very_ familiar. Too familiar – like he rode down those streets almost every time he went on patrol familiar. "You can't come with me. It's too dangerous."

"If it's dangerous, then you need backup," Dick argued, still keeping pace with him.

"No," Roy shot a glare at him. "This is important. I can't have you getting in the way!"

More like he couldn't have Dick finding out that he was meeting Cheshire. It was harsh, but he needed to get Dick angry enough to drop it.

"This is about Cheshire, isn't it?" Dick panted breathlessly, his extreme workout from before taking its toll on his muscles.

Roy stopped dead in his tracks, whipping around to stare at Dick in wide-eyed disbelief. The blood in his veins froze to ice, and his entire body went stiff in shock.

Dick stumbled to a halt and looked back at him first in surprise at the sudden stop and then in knowing at Roy's slack-jawed expression. He placed both hands on his hips and allowed a small smirk to cross his face, "I'm not blind, Roy."

Roy blinked a few times to shake off the surprise. Dick knew about Cheshire. Shit. If _he_ knew, then who else did too?

The tablet beeped twice to let him know it had completed the trace. Roy glanced down at the screen numbly. Cheshire was at the corner of North Ogallah St. and Moira Queen Ave. Oh _crap_. That was the location of Oliver's secret weapons arsenal. She'd had that tracer on him for an entire day. She would have been able to see wherever he went, and he'd definitely used the zeta tube in there today. It must have looked pretty suspicious when his location jumped from that address to another halfway across the country in a matter of seconds. Cheshire was waiting for him there.

" _Roy!_ " Dick tried to get his attention when he didn't respond.

"Yes! Okay? Yes." Roy replaced the tablet in his quiver and grabbed Dick's arm to make him back off. He glanced both ways down the hallway and lowered his voice in case Superboy was near enough to overhear them. "I'm going to meet Cheshire. I got desperate and enlisted her to help find Wally. I don't know how you found out about her, but you _cannot_ come with me. She's helping me look for Professor Zoom, but I do _not_ trust her enough to put you in the same room with her. And if I bring you along, she might decide not to tell me what she found. She's too volatile to try and predict anything she'll do."

Surprisingly, Dick dropped it and stepped back, "Okay, I got it. I won't come with. Hurry up and go!"

Roy eyed him suspiciously for a second, "I mean it; don't follow me."

"You think I'd risk screwing up a lead to finding Wally?" Dick actually pushed Roy down the hallway. "Go. I'll cover for you."

Roy didn't have time to wonder whether or not Dick would actually stay behind or if he was just pretending. He ran flat out the rest of the way to the zeta tubes in the mission room, ducking into one before Kaldur had time to question his haste.

_"Recognize: Red Arrow – 21"_

The bright light blinded him for a second, and Roy felt the jolt of the zeta transport sending him all the way across the country. When he arrived in Oliver's secret hideaway in Star City, the first thing he noticed was a tightly woven net of bombs strung up across the entrance of the tube. Roy took a step back instinctively and had his bow in hand a second later. He squinted past the black wire of the net and spotted Cheshire perched on a workbench in the middle of the brightly lit room, her mask lying innocently on the table beside her and Roy's old Speedy uniform hat resting snugly atop her head.

"What is this?" Roy gestured to the net of bombs cautiously.

"Well, I didn't know who might be coming through," Cheshire shrugged with an impish smile, holding up a detonator and turning it off. "You can't fault a girl for being careful."

Roy brushed the net aside and stalked forwards into the room. He slung his bow over his shoulder and crossed his arms unhappily, "You were going to blow up my former mentor then?"

"Only if he showed up," she tossed her hair over her shoulder and chuckled airily. When Roy's scowl only deepened, Cheshire hopped down from the table and removed the old hat with a sigh. "Relax, Red. I would have given him time to run away."

"That's nice," he replied sarcastically. "Except Green Arrow wouldn't have run, so he'd have gotten blown up."

"You know him better than I do," Cheshire waved one arm at him in a lazy shrug. She sauntered around the table and examined the walls lined with arrows and knives. She turned her back to Roy and replaced the hat she'd taken from the case holding the Speedy costume. "What is this place, anyway? Surely it's not Green Arrow's hideout. I always imagined a superhero's hideout would be more…homey?"

"It's a secret arsenal," Roy said impatiently. "Or it _was_ secret."

"Ooh, I like that," Cheshire spun around suddenly and rolled her shoulders, fixing him with a minx-like grin. " _Arsenal_. You should change your name to that."

Roy ignored her, "How did you get in here?"

Cheshire seemed unfazed by his rebuff. She tousled her own hair, stretching her arms above her head and flexing her clawed fingers, "I picked the lock."

Roy leaned to the side and saw that the entrance to the room was still intact. He fixed Cheshire with a suspicious frown, "That 'lock' is a high-security retina scanner."

"Do you want to know what I found, or not?" she bent backwards casually, extending one leg into the air and cart wheeling back upright like this was just any other day at the park.

"Yes," he said immediately, the urgency from before suddenly slamming back into him.

Cheshire stood upright and stared at him silently with an unreadable expression for several long moments before reaching behind her back and pulling a bundle of rolled up files from the sash at her waist. She tossed them unceremoniously onto the workbench and shifted her weight to one foot, sticking her hip out to the side and folding her arms over her stomach.

Roy snatched up the roll and snapped the band holding it together. He spread the files out onto the table and let his eyes rove over the pictures and folders hungrily.

"Professor Zoom has disappeared from the face of the Earth," Cheshire spoke almost as if she was bored. "No one's seen him in over a year."

Roy looked up at her from the papers in alarm.

"But they've _spoken_ to him," she smiled, turning away again and inspecting a particularly nasty trick arrow hanging from the wall. "I kept hitting dead ends everywhere I looked, so I took a little trip to Central City and Keystone and started poking around. Did you know that the bright and cheerful twin cities have an impressive black market called the 'Network'?"

The Network? Roy had never heard Wally, or Flash, or anyone else in the Justice League mention Central City having anything like a black market. "No. What is it?"

"A rather high-end smuggling operation that moves contraband in and out from all over the world," Cheshire moved on from the trick arrow and picked up one of Oliver's spare bows. She mimed drawing an arrow and pulled back the string, closing one eye to take aim. "Think supermarket for supervillains. It's fairly new – I'd say only a few years old. And it's run by a real shady character that goes by the alias Blacksmith."

Roy looked down at the pictures. They were all of the same woman: middle-aged, long indigo hair, coal black eyes, and a cruel, snake-like expression.

"Her real name is Amunet Black," Cheshire told him loftily. "Word is that she stole some elixir from her ex-husband, and now she's a self-made metahuman."

"Blacksmith…" Roy tested the name out to see how it sounded. He'd definitely never heard of her before. "What do she and the Network have to do with Zoom?"

Cheshire leaned over the table and brushed the pictures of Blacksmith aside. She found the paper she was searching for and slid it to Roy, "The Network is all abuzz with a new drug about to be released on the market. It's called Velocity. Three guesses as to who made it…"

"Professor Zoom," Roy said bitterly. He scanned over the paper which held information about the pricing and quantities available for Velocity and a list of suppliers and dealers that would be carrying it when it was released.

Cheshire nodded, confirming his guess with a laugh, "Velocity sounds like a real killer."

"Why?" he asked, still looking over the papers, trying to see if he recognized any of the names. "What does it do?"

"It gives you a high, just like any drug," she took Roy's arm and gently ghosted a finger over the veins in the crook of his elbow. "But this one gives you superspeed."

"What…?" Roy looked up at her incredulously.

"The powers are only temporary," Cheshire released his arm. "And they come with side effects. Bloodshot eyes, extreme addiction, exhaustion, rapid aging, and so far it kills everyone who takes it. Professor Zoom's still working out the kinks and burning through test subjects to perfect it. It sounds like it's years away from hitting the streets, but the estimated release date has been moved _up_ instead."

Roy looked down at the date on the papers and then back at Cheshire, following her progress around the room as she dragged her claws lightly along the various surfaces, "That doesn't make any sense."

"It does if Zoom is expecting to perfect Velocity by the end of the month. Now, what could possibly have changed to make him think that was possible?" Cheshire tapped her lips thoughtfully with one clawed finger and tossed Roy an unimpressed look over her shoulder. "Maybe he's recently acquired something that he needed to finish it?"

The way she spoke that last sentence gave Roy pause. Cheshire let the words trail off suggestively like she knew exactly what that mysterious something was. Roy narrowed his eyes at her, trying to figure out what she meant when suddenly it hit him like a bus.

"Kid Flash…" he gasped soundlessly, his entire body filling with dread. "This is what Zoom needed him for. His drug doesn't work right, so he kidnapped Kid Flash and is going to use him to fix it…"

Cheshire nodded slowly but didn't look like she was happy that he'd figured it out. She approached the workbench carefully and stood across from him silently, letting him process it all in his head. Roy couldn't believe it. This was the link that they'd been missing the whole time. Cheshire had found it in one day and brought back every shred of information she could gather.

"Cheshire…" Roy breathed, staring at the papers in awe. He was at a complete loss as to how he should react. This was exactly what he needed. He could find Wally with this information.

"Jade."

Roy's head snapped up in surprise, "What?"

"My name," she clarified with a deadly serious stare. "It's Jade."

"Jade…" he repeated dumbly, unsure of whether she was about to stab him or smile at him.

He decided that he didn't want to wait to find out. Roy reached over the table and threaded his fingers into Jade's thick black hair. He pulled her closer and pressed their mouths together firmly, mumbling about twenty desperate 'thank you's against her lips.

When Roy pulled back to look into her eyes, he found Jade smiling back seductively, "If that's the thanks I get, you can call me for a favor anytime, Red."

Roy made a split second decision, and it was a stupid one. He reached up to his own face and peeled off the domino mask covering his eyes, "Roy."

Jade's pretty eyes widened in delight, and a grin big enough to rival her Cheshire mask spread across her face, "You weren't lying. You _are_ more fun."

Roy kissed Jade one more time and hastily scooped up the files scattered over the top of the workbench, "I need to get these to the Justice League!"

He ran to the zeta tube and began punching in the access code to the Watchtower. He paused suddenly and turned back to fix Jade with a suspicious look. She'd put her Cheshire mask back on and was watching him with both hands on her hips and a fond tilt of her head. Roy pointed at her sternly and gestured to the room full of weapons, "Don't…steal anything…"

Jade took the bright yellow hat from Roy's Speedy costume again and tucked it into her sash.

Roy couldn't resist the smile that crept over him. He felt his chest swell with affection, and he activated the zeta beam.


	15. Chapter 15

[The Watchtower

March 24, 20:30 EST]

Diana was no stranger to familial love. She had a whole island full of sisters that she would surrender her life for without a second thought. True, she was not a mother and hadn't yet experienced any parental feelings towards a young child before. The closest she had come to it was the intense protectiveness she had for her youngest sister, Donna, and many of the young heroes that had been trained by her own teammates.

Donna had been pleading with Diana for years to let her come to man's world. She wanted to fight crime as her partner – she'd even picked out a name and costume.

Wonder Girl.

Diana had been hesitant to even consider the idea at first, but then she'd really paid attention to how the few heroes and sidekicks worked with each other, and she'd nearly been convinced. Donna was a fine warrior after all – a little unpolished, but well-trained. She was still young, by both human and Amazonian standards, but fifteen wasn't an unreasonable age. Robin had been nine after all when Batman had first begun training him.

Diana had been sold on the idea. She'd even gone to Hephaestus and had him craft a set of armor for her sister. Then, the sidekicks had all rebelled. Roy had stormed out on Oliver. Dick, Wally, and Kaldur'ahm directly disobeyed the instructions of their mentors and snuck off to put themselves into extreme danger investigating Cadmus.

That incident had turned her off from the idea for a long time, but then the sidekicks had made their bids for independence, gathered more young heroes, and formed a very successful team. After that, Diana watched them again, and she was beginning to reconsider Donna as a partner.

It would take some more convincing though because Diana fought demigods and arcane magical beings as old as humanity itself. Her foes were especially deadly, and she wasn't sure if she was willing to put her beloved sister in that kind of danger. Especially not now, with Wally in the hands of one of Barry's most powerful enemies.

She could imagine how he was feeling, and she could definitely understand. If anyone had hurt her sisters, Diana would kill the ones responsible. Barry's reactions were logical to her, but they were unhealthy for _him_. He was quite possibly the most honorable out of all of them next to Clark. This stunt he'd pulled breaking a villain out of a maximum security prison was alarming.

They'd received word just now that Doctor Alchemy had been returned to his cell twenty minutes ago. He had twelve broken bones, extensive burns on his arms and hands, and minor blood loss. Captain Atom was dealing with Iron Heights right now while she and Clark headed down to the Watchtower's lab to confront Barry. The security system had recognized Barry's arrival a few seconds ago, which was plenty of time for him to get to the lab that he'd practically lived in the last two days when we wasn't out running the planet.

"How bad is it?" Clark asked anxiously. He'd been out scanning all of Missouri and Kansas for Flash and had only just returned half an hour ago.

"Not as bad as it could be," Diana assured him. "Barry's city loves him, and it looks like they're giving him the benefit of the doubt until they have the full story."

"Alright, let's clear this up fast and get a statement down to Central," Clark rubbed at his face stressfully.

They rounded the corner in time to see Hal zipping towards the lab doors full speed, limbed in glowing green light. Clearly, Hal had heard the security system announcement too. He spotted them and landed in front of the doors with both hands thrown out to ward them off, "Just wait a second! Give me a minute to talk to him before you go in guns blazing!"

Diana felt a small twinge of irritation towards him. She had a difficult time getting along with Hal. He was arrogant, and impulsive, and it was almost as if he _tried_ to annoy her. Like it was fun or something.

"We're not going to hurt him," Clark said calmly, giving Hal a look like he'd said something ridiculous.

Diana hoped it was ridiculous. She remembered Clark trying to pin Barry down that first night when she'd been guarding Rudy West's cell. She really hoped they weren't about to walk into another fight with Barry. He was a good friend, but he hadn't been easy to take down. They'd needed three other speedsters to do it.

She looked from Clark to Hal, and then back to Clark. It was eerily similar to last time. Maybe they should've brought a couple speedsters along, although Max Mercury and Jay were still in the med bay.

"Right…" Hal ran a hand through his hair, looking upset. "Still, though, let me go in there and talk to him first just in case he – hey!"

Diana shoved past him and pushed open the double doors, looking around for Barry. She spotted him off to the right, hunched over a table and looking through a microscope with his cowl thrown back. He didn't give any indication that he'd heard her enter.

Hal flew right by her and landed behind Barry, placing himself between his friend and Diana. He put a hand on Barry's shoulder when he didn't react to their approach in any way and leaned in close to talk to him, "You gotta stop doing this, buddy. I don't like you switching up the roles in this friendship whenever you feel like it. _I'm_ the one who does the stupid shit and _you're_ the one that smacks the sense back into me, remember? I can't be the reasonable one. I'm ill-equipped for it."

Barry didn't look up from the microscope, "It's Element Z."

"What?" Hal asked, cocking one eyebrow in confusion.

Diana moved to the other side of the table where a small chunk of rock was sitting. She looked closer and saw that it was softly shimmering a pretty gold color in veins.

"One of the substances in the blood samples," Barry stood upright and fixed Hal with a grim stare. There were deep circles under his normally bright blue eyes and his hair was a mess. "It was Element Z. I found it."

Clark looked at the rock and then at Barry, looking like he was connecting the dots in his head, "Did this have anything to do with you breaking one of your villains out of prison?"

Barry's eyes flickered over to Clark instantly, and he spoke in a harsh voice that was so unnatural to hear coming from _him_ , "One of the first few times I fought Zoom, before he got his own powers, he used Element Z to gain super speed. Doctor Alchemy purified it for him."

Clark looked at the rock with understanding then and nodded slowly, "So, you thought Doctor Alchemy was responsible for the Element Z in Blue Trinity's blood. You took him to question him…"

"How do you know that Element Z wasn't just an ingredient in Dr. Orloff's serum?" Diana asked.

"I'm a forensic tech," Barry said sharply, narrowing his eyes at her as if she'd just insulted him. "I know how to check my facts. Orloff had already created his serum well before the first time Professor Zoom surfaced. He wouldn't have any idea what Element Z even _is_ , much less how to purify it."

"So it was definitely Doctor Alchemy," Clark said quickly, obviously trying to diffuse Barry's rising anger before it became an issue. "What did he say when you spoke to him?"

"Nothing at first," Barry said ominously. Evasively. "He kept lying to me and pretending not to know anything about Zoom. Until I made him talk."

"You tortured him." Diana said bluntly. There was no hiding what he'd done to the imprisoned villain. He'd beaten the answers out of him. Barry turned to face her, and she stared back unhappily, daring him to deny it.

He didn't.

"He told me that Zoom came to him a little over a year ago and asked him to purify more Element Z – about a hundred pounds of it. Never gave him a reason why," Barry said steadily. "He said Professor Zoom threatened to kill him if he breathed a word of it to anyone."

"How'd you get him to talk then?" Hal asked nervously. He was looking more and more worried by the second.

"I made him fear _me_ more," Barry ground out carefully, glaring at Hal out of the corners of his eyes.

Clark looked just as upset at the news but seemed to be able to keep it together enough to handle Barry cautiously, "What does this mean?"

"I don't know…" Barry seemed to calm down a little. He closed his eyes and leaned against the table for support. "Zoom obviously found a way to grind Element Z down and inject it into the bloodstream, but using it on Blue Trinity doesn't make sense; they're already speedsters. Unless it was like an enhancer. Beyond that…I have no idea. I thought the lead would give me more, but it's just an extension of an already dead end. Zoom was covering his tracks."

They all fell silent for a long minute, and Diana watched Barry wither a little. Her heart went out to him. He was trying so hard, but every lead they had so far had turned up nothing they could use to track down Zoom. She knew how difficult it must be to keep going when it looked like there was no hope.

"Barry, we have to talk about this," Clark said reluctantly but firmly. "Taking a supervillain from prison…there were better ways you could have gone about questioning Doctor Alchemy. You should have set up a meeting inside Iron Heights-"

Barry shot him a look like he was crazy, "There was no time for that! Do you realize that time moves differently at superspeed? If Zoom's torturing Wally, he could make an _hour_ feel like years. He's had him for thirty-three! I didn't have time to 'set up a meeting'!"

"There were still better ways that you could have handled it," Clark sighed. "Captain Atom's trying to deal with the fallout from this as we speak. The Justice League can't have its members doing things like that, Barry. We can't afford any bad press – not with people like Godfrey watching our every move for mistakes."

"I don't give a damn about the League's public image!" Barry growled at him incredulously. Even Diana cringed a little at Clark's choice of words. He wasn't wrong, but she knew that he hadn't meant for that to sound so callous. "All I care about is finding my _son_!"

Diana saw Barry's rage vanish suddenly and his eyes widen a little in surprise as he caught his own slip up. Hal frowned at him sadly in concern, reaching out to grip his arm tightly.

"It's more than that. If you cross lines like that once, it's easier to do it again," Clark toned down the accusation in his voice and looked at Barry sympathetically. "We're worried about you."

"I'll do whatever it takes to find him," Barry pushed off from the table and snatched up the Element Z ore. His anger was muted now, and he just seemed unconcerned with their attempts at an intervention. "Kick me out of the League if you have to. I don't care."

"What about your city?" Diana stepped forwards to block his path once he started for the lab's exit.

"I'll answer to them once this is over and I've found Wally," he made to sidestep her, turning his back on all three of them.

Diana watched him approach the door, feeling the pull to stop him but having no idea what to say. How was she supposed to stop a man who was just trying to protect his family? Hal seemed to have at least some kind of idea, because he ran after Barry to catch up and hadn't gotten more than two words out of his mouth before the lab doors suddenly slammed open with a bang.

Diana's entire body automatically readied for a fight but relaxed when she saw Roy running into the lab. He was panting and sweating from what she could only imagine had been a frantic sprint over here.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," the young archer took a deep breath. He jogged the last few steps to Barry and held up a fistful of files and pictures hastily bound together. Diana raised an eyebrow at the crooked grin on his face. Why was he so happy all of a sudden? A few hours ago, he'd been an unholy terror in the training room.

"You've got to see this."

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[Undisclosed Location

Unknown Date, Unknown Time]

He felt like someone had ripped the heart from his chest and replaced it with an eighty-year old's. Wally opened his eyes slowly, much more awake than he'd been last time. He looked around at the glass cell that he was still trapped in and pushed himself upright. On the other side of the glass, there stood two tall men in blue and white costumes with cowls that covered their entire heads and a blue star smack in the middle of their chests. One was standing a few paces back with his arms hanging at his sides and his head cocked to the side like a confused dog. The other was staring at him in much the same fashion but was right beside the cell with some kind of remote resting in his hand.

They were the two speedsters who had attacked Jay and Max!

Wally zipped to his feet.

Or…he tried to.

He ended up horrifically misjudging the speed he meant to move at and staggered off balance in a hunched over sort of posture. Wally shot out his hand to steady himself on the glass, miscalculated again, and crashed into it shoulder first. He hit the ground hard, unable to coordinate his limbs to break the fall for him, and rolled onto his back with a groan.

What the hell was going on? He wasn't moving correctly. At all.

The two speedsters watched his progress curiously and silently. Wally got to his hands and knees and stared at the ground in alarm. His heart was plodding along in his chest at a snail's pace, feeling heavy and slow and _unnatural_. Wally raised two shaking fingers to the vein in his neck and tried to control his breathing as he counted.

One…two…three…four…five…six…seven…eight…nine…

His green eyes widened in alarm, and he sat back on his heels in numb shock. His heartbeat was barely faster than one beat per second. That was…so hilariously slower than normal that Wally didn't know how to process it. His heartbeat hadn't been that slow in six years – since before he got his powers.

He moved his fingers further down his neck. Maybe he just wasn't reading it right. The digits bumped into something hard that was fixed snugly around his neck. His heart rate picked up a few beats finally. Wally gripped the foreign object with both hands, feeling along the metal all the way around his neck. He gasped soundlessly in crushing terror as he realized what it was.

An inhibitor collar.

That's why his heartbeat was so slow. The collar had cut off his connection to his speed. It had taken away his powers. Wally desperately tugged and pulled at the collar, testing all around for weaknesses and finding none. He looked up at the two speedsters for an explanation, but they remained stonily silent, still staring at him blankly. Wally tried to use his speed again to shoot to his feet, but it failed again. This time, he knew what was wrong and corrected the motion before he could fall over. He slammed a powerful kick into the glass, which didn't deliver as much force as usual but was still enough to rattle the glass. Okay, so he was still as strong as normal – just without the momentum of superspeed behind it. Thank God that Uncle Barry had always insisted they do strength training and conditioning even though they were metahumans. Relying on super powers all the time was how you got killed.

Unfortunately, Wally thought as he eyed the two insanely fast speedsters waiting on the other side of the glass, that probably wasn't going to be any good to him this time – not against those two. He frantically eyed his surroundings again; he was still in the same warehouse type room as before. His eyes swiveled to the roll down door that tracks of slushy snow had been leading from before. There. If he was going to run, that would be the way to go. It clearly had to lead outside at some point.

Wally looked back at the relaxed speedsters again and felt his stomach sink. There was no way he could outrun them. He hadn't been able to do it when he _did_ have his powers; he'd never be able to get past them now. Wally turned around and looked at the various stacks of crates and tables that littered the space that Zoom had occupied before.

 _Zoom_.

Shit! Was he still here?!

Wally turned in a circle, frantically searching the room for any sign of the bright yellow villain. It…didn't look like he was here, but that didn't really mean all that much. Professor Zoom could be hiding behind any one of the towering stacks of junk that filled the warehouse.

He took a deep breath and tried to adjust to being so slow again. Ugh. How had he ever lived like this? How did Aunt Iris, or Hal, or Dick live like this? Wally frowned at the thought of his family and friends. He pictured Aunt Iris' smiling face, and his heart constricted violently. He missed them. Geez, how long had he been gone? They had to know he was missing by now. Were they looking for him?

Stop thinking like that. Of course they were looking for him.

Wally felt his courage rebound, and he kicked the glass again, glaring out defiantly at the two speedsters, "Let me out of here!"

The one closest to the glass held up the remote and pressed a button. Immediately, the glass cell gave a great hiss, and the cylindrical walls started to slide upwards, detaching from the base. Wally stumbled back in surprise. He hadn't really expected them to – nevermind! He wasn't some helpless civilian. He'd been trained by the best, and he wasn't going to let them do whatever they wanted to him without a fight.

Wally ducked under the glass and sprinted for the roll down door at a dead run.

He miscalculated again. His mind was already placing him only a few feet from the door before his feet had taken six running steps. Right. Powers gone. But, it was too late to go back. Wally grit his teeth and ran as fast as his legs would carry him which, while impressive for a normal human, felt like he was crawling. He pushed himself faster, feeling ridiculous but having no other alternative.

Come on. Come on. Come on!

Wally glanced over his shoulder as he ran, already a third of the way to the door, and saw that neither speedster was chasing him. They hadn't moved so much as an inch, only turning their heads to watch him. He looked back at his goal and focused on keeping his breathing even while his instincts screamed at him that something was wrong. They should have chased after him. Why hadn't they? Were they toying with him - letting him get all the way to the door before capturing him again and dragging him back just to let him feel the crushing defeat of being so close to freedom only to have it ripped away?

He steeled his resolve and kept running. Wally would endure.

Quick as lightning, Wally felt a ripple of hot, thick pain shoot through his entire body. His muscles locked up, and he went crashing to the floor in full seizure. His skin tingled like it was bubbling, and his heart raced as he convulsed helplessly, every vein feeling like it was bursting apart.

Wally had only ever experienced searing, numbing pain like this once before. It had been the happiest day in his life – he'd been ten years old and meeting the Flash for the first time in his uncle's lab at the Central City police station. A bolt of lightning had come arcing through the window and struck him dead in the chest, throwing him back onto a rack of chemicals. It was how he'd gotten his powers.

Then, it was gone.

Wally just stared up at the dark ceiling in open mouthed shock, feeling the coppery taste of blood spreading through his mouth. He must've bitten through his tongue when his jaw clamped shut. His head throbbed in agony, sending the waves of aching pain all the way down into his bones. Wally could only lie there, paralyzed, feeling his heart pound madly in his chest like he'd just finished running from coast to coast. Two strong hands pulled him upright and hooked beneath his arms. Wally managed to crane his neck enough to see both speedsters standing on either side of him.

They started walking away from the roll down door, and Wally tried to move his legs to resist, but they just dragged along behind him uselessly. He wrenched to the side with his shoulders and bumped one elbow ineffectually into the speedster to his left. They didn't speak, didn't react in any way, just carried him along to the room's other exit. Wally swallowed a mouthful of his own blood and dug one heel firmly into the ground. The speedster to his right just yanked his arm harder and pulled him along.

Feeling was beginning to return to his muscles. Undeterred, Wally fought through the pain, curling his legs up off the floor. He locked his own arms around the ones holding him and twisted his body to the side, slamming one shin into the back of the speedster to his right's knee. When it gave out, Wally kicked his other leg out into the side of his captor's bent knee. He heard it dislocate with a satisfying crack, and the blue and white clad speedster went down.

The speedster to his left released his arm, grabbing the back of the shirt they'd dressed him in yesterday and throwing him away from them. Wally hit the floor in a roll and was just placing one foot flat on the ground when the collar electrified him again. He seized up and collided with the concrete head first. Wally's fingers and toes curled up painfully, and his organs felt strained to bursting. The white hot current tore through his muscles again mercilessly, lasting a few seconds longer than last time. From his prone position on the floor, Wally could see the speedster he'd taken down roll onto his back, clutching the disfigured kneecap with both hands. He gave a forceful jerk and popped the knee back into place without even a grunt of pain.

He got back to his feet as his partner calmly watched Wally writhing on the floor uncontrollably, the collar's remote in his hand and pointed right at him. He lowered the remote once the shocks had died off and pulled Wally back to his feet. The speedster he'd injured took up his other side again and kept walking like it hadn't happened.

Wally fought to recover again, looking all around at the room before he was taken from it. They walked past the project tarp that had been blocking his view of the conveyor belt earlier, and now Wally could see everything. Sitting on the small stretch of assembly line was a neat, evenly spaced row of Manhunter head faceplates.

Great. He was trapped in the middle of a Manhunter _factory_. Excellent. Wally spat out another mouthful of blood and hung limp in the arms of his captors as they carried him through the door. He was smart enough not to try a third time. He'd save his energy and try something else when the opportunity presented itself.

They left the dark warehouse behind and entered a clean, brightly lit hallway. The walls were utilitarian grey, unpolished, and windowless. The lace-up combat boots they'd put him in squeaked loudly on the tile floor as Wally stumbled along on jelly legs. Wait, why was he trying to walk? Wally went completely dead weight, forcing both speedsters to struggle to drag him until they gave in and lifted him off the ground entirely.

Wally didn't have any choice in where they were taking him, but he sure as hell didn't need to make it easy for them. He ignored the pain in his arms and just hung limp, carefully watching the route they took and committing it to memory in case he needed it later.

Left turn, another left, elevator on the right, down four levels, no stairs – _that_ was a special kind of awful – six doors down the left hallway, last door at the hall's end.

Wally's captors carried him into a room that closely resembled a hospital's examination room. Except instead of a table, there was a reclining chair with restraints built into it. Standing beside the chair were two women wearing red and blue Manhunter uniforms. One was dark-haired and young looking, and the other was brunette and appeared to be middle-aged. Both had on surgical masks, gloves, and were holding a rack of empty vacutainer blood collection tubes.

Oh, _hell_ no! Wally bucked frantically, thrashing and twisting to get free. He'd been wrong. He totally should have fought the whole way here.

One of the speedsters slugged him in the kidney, and Wally doubled over with a gasp. He lashed out with his long legs and scored a hit on the one who'd punched him. He shrugged it off and changed the hold in a blur of motion. One wrestled Wally's arms behind his back, and the other locked his legs under one arm. Wally threw his head back and smashed it into the masked speedster's face. Predictably, it didn't have any noticeable effect.

They forced Wally into the chair and held him down while the two women quickly secured him with the straps. He tried to keep his breathing steady and _not_ panic with his arms, legs, and torso tied down. Man, he _really_ wished they hadn't taken his costume from him. He could've used the extra reassurance it gave him, because the black shirt, pants, and boots they'd changed him into weren't helping him feel like a superhero at all. And, God, he really needed to _not_ feel like a civilian right now. Well, if he couldn't have that, he'd have to resort to mouthing off. That usually gave him a bit of false confidence when he was facing off against a powerful enemy.

Both women approached him, and the dark-haired one rolled up his sleeve and swabbed the crook of his elbow with something amber colored and sterile smelling. Wally jerked his arm away as much as he could in the restrains and fixed her with a glare, "Wow, so there are like a lot of you supervillain rejects, huh? What are you guys – robot nurse one and two? What do you do? Oil changes and tune ups?"

"We aren't robots," the dark-haired woman furrowed her brow at him, the rest of her expression hidden beneath the mouth cover. "We're acolytes, and we need medical attention sometimes just like anyone else."

She slid a hypodermic needle with a connector into Wally's arm, taped it in place, and held her hand out to her partner. The second woman handed her an empty tube, and she plugged it into his arm. Wally watched the finger-sized tube fill with his blood and felt the panic rising again. Oh crap. What did they need his blood for? Cloning? Experimentation?

"Except, you're not like everyone else," he spat, still moving his arm to make it as difficult as possible for her. "You're some creepy, child abducting psycho that's helping to end the world. I mean, who helps a bunch of alien robots kill their own species? Wait... Eww, you don't have like a robot fetish, do you? Cause that's really gross. They've got therapists you can go to see for that, you know."

The dark-haired woman didn't look at him. She just removed the full vial and plugged in another one, handing it off to her partner.

"How'd you get into this? Couldn't land a real job at a hospital?" Wally cringed like he felt bad for them. "Oh, I bet you weren't all that good at keeping people alive, huh? Had to go work for robots, 'cause I guess they wouldn't care, right?"

The woman's eyes flickered up at him in annoyance, but she just switched out vials again and filled another one with his blood.

" _Hey_ , it's not like this is human teenager on tap, you vampire!" Wally struggled against the bindings as more and more tubes were filled. There had to be like twelve of them by now. "Listen, lady; if you're gonna tie me up and steal all my blood, you at least have to buy me dinner first! I'm not this easy."

She sighed and handed off another vial, "Anders, would you please shut him up?"

The second woman nodded and set down the rack of blood samples. She went to the cabinets against the far wall and retrieved a thick, black gag.

Wally's struggles kicked up a notch. "Just tell me what you want my blood for, and I'll be quiet for…three minutes. Okay? Hey! I think that's a fair offer! Get the hell awa- _mmph!_ "

She secured the thick fabric firmly over his mouth and chin, fastening it behind his neck and then returned to assisting her partner. Wally tossed his head stubbornly and tried to dislodge the gag.

The two women finished quickly after that, carefully securing twenty vials of his blood and discarding the needle and tape. The older brunette knocked on the door twice and stepped back when it opened. Wally glared at the doorway silently, feeling his heart quicken when a familiar yellow and red clad man stepped into the room.

Professor Zoom again.

"We need an escort down to the labs," the dark-haired acolyte told him slightly nervously.

Zoom just jerked his thumb at the door, "Gregor. Boleslaw. Leave the remote."

Wally watched curiously as the two speedsters left the room together, one in front of the women and one behind. Those blood samples had to be pretty important if they needed a four man guard. He felt his stomach twist uneasily as he thought about what they were going to do with his blood. Was this what they'd taken him for? It had to be a part of the reason at least.

"Well, good morning, Wally." Zoom turned to him and pulled back his mask as soon as the room was empty. "How did you sleep?"

Wally glared at him.

Zoom smiled, the sick mockery of his uncle's face contorting to show the manic glee, "It doesn't look like you've been a very good boy today. Here, how about we make a deal? I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself. _I'm_ going to take off that gag, and _you're_ going to tell me the secret identities of as many heroes as you know. Sound like a fair trade?"

Wally tried to keep the fear off his face as he shook his head at Zoom.

"No? Hmm. Alright, how about this: I'll remove the gag if you tell me all the identities _and_ the access codes you know. Like to the Hall of Justice and the Watchtower."

Wally sat very still, forcing his expression into a defiant mask.

Zoom sighed and threw his arms out like he was playfully exasperated, "You are one tough negotiator. Did Barry teach you that? Okay, final offer. I _cannot_ sweeten the deal any more than this, Wally, so stop asking! You tell me identities, access codes, and the layout of all your secret hideouts. _Then,_ I'll take off the gag. What do you say?"

He felt his false bravado starting to slip, his fear beginning to take over. 'Calm down, Wally,' he told himself mentally. He needed to keep his cool.

When Wally didn't nod or shake his head, Zoom crossed his arms unhappily, "You're not being very agreeable, Wally. Are you going to make me force it out of you? That's pretty rude."

Then, Zoom's smile darkened considerably, "Didn't your mother teach you any better?"

Wally saw red. He lunged against the bindings furiously, trying to yell from behind the gag. How _dare_ he?!

Zoom threw his head back and started laughing while Wally thrashed to get free, "Oh, don't be like that. _I_ tried to be nice about this. After all, you and I go way back. True, I _do_ hate you, and I want you dead, but _you_ made me what I am."

Thawne zipped closer and was suddenly standing right in front of Wally. He leaned on the armrest of the chair with one hand and gripped Wally's throat with the other. Zoom's mismatched blue eyes glared down at him madly, and Wally had an odd moment of numbness where he wondered if Zoom had stolen the eyes and transplanted them himself or if he'd just used some future device to change the color. He really hoped it was the latter explanation but had a terrified feeling that he'd taken them from two different people.

"You're going to tell me everything even if I have to pry each syllable from you by force," Zoom snarled at him. His eyes glowed red, and Wally felt an electric charge build up around them both. "I'm going to make you betray everyone you love, and then, after I sell their identities to the proper villains, I'm going to make sure they know it was _you_ who gave up their secrets."

Wally smashed his forehead into Zoom's face, feeling the sociopath's nose break on impact. Professor Zoom reeled back in surprise, clutching his bleeding nose with his eyes shut in pain. Then, Wally saw his thumb press down on the remote.

Electricity shot through his body again from the collar, making Wally jerk rigidly in the chair. He tried not to show that it hurt but ended up making a strangled choking noise. The current ripped through his body like fire, speeding up his heart until it felt like it would punch right out of his chest.

Zoom turned off the current, and Wally slumped in the seat, gasping for air. Thawne wiped the blood off his face and idly tossed the remote up into the air over and over again, "Oh my, that was fun. I have to be careful not to overuse this. Don't want to kill you accidentally."

Wally wanted to shout that there was nothing accidental about strapping someone to a chair and electrocuting them to death, but he had a feeling Zoom wouldn't care.

Professor Zoom reached out and pulled off the gag, "Let's see. I already know your whole family and where they all live. I know about the first Flash and his wife, but they're not really my concern. Retired heroes won't make me any money. Let's think a bit. Who are you and Barry good buddies with?"

He snapped his fingers as if a great idea had just hit him, "I've got it! Green Lantern. Tell me who _he_ is."

Hal Jordan.

Wally spat blood at Zoom. It was childish – and a little gross – but he felt that it got his answer across pretty accurately.

"Where does he live? I know he and Barry are close. Surely, you know everything about him?" Zoom rolled his eyes at Wally's defiance. "I think you do."

"Pfft," he rasped, trying to make it seem like he was totally fine. "You don't know anything. Flash hates GL. They don't get along at _all_."

"Liar," Professor Zoom chuckled mildly. He took Wally's hand in both of his own and calmly broke his index finger. "Why don't we try again? Who is Green Lantern?"

Wally gasped in pain and clamped his jaw shut to keep from crying out. He tried not to look at the severely crooked digit and instead focused on Zoom, who was watching him closely in pure delight. Wally kept his hand as still as possible and took a deep breath to control the pain.

"Come on, Wally. Just give me his name. He's not worth another broken finger, is he?"

Yes. Hal definitely _was_. He was like another uncle to Wally.

"Green Lantern is actually just Poison Ivy in disguise," Wally said very seriously. "But, don't tell anyone. It's a secret."

Zoom snapped his middle finger with an unamused glower. Wally gave a shaky cry and instinctively tried to curl his fingers in to protect them.

"Keep lying to me, and I'll start pulling teeth next," he promised angrily. "I'll be nice and pick another hero, but only once. Merlyn's been after Green Arrow for years. Tell me who he is."

Oliver Queen. He and Roy didn't always get along so well, but he was still Roy's adoptive father. Roy loved him, whether he admitted it or not, and Oliver had always been super nice to Wally. He'd never give up Oliver's identity to save himself.

"Oh, same thing," Wally shrugged, trying to keep his voice as normal as possible with both broken fingers radiating sharp, stabbing pain through his nerves. "He's also Black Canary. You can tell, 'cause they're both blond."

Zoom gave a growl of rage and grabbed Wally's ring and pinkie fingers, bending them all the way backwards until they touched the back of his hand. They both popped out of their sockets with twin snaps, and this time, Wally couldn't hold back his shuddering cry. " _Enough!_ "

"I'm not going to tell you anything!" Wally gasped, fighting to get free as Zoom broke both fingers at the second knuckle.

"I've spoken to Psimon before," Zoom said rather calmly. He abandoned Wally's mangled right hand and moved onto the left. "He's very good at figuring out people's relations to each other. So, I asked him to watch all the heroes and tell me who was close to whom."

He broke Wally's thumb sideways, "I know that Superman and Batman have a great deal of respect for each other."

"Red Arrow thinks of Black Canary as a mother figure. So sweet…," he bent another finger upwards at a ninety degree angle.

"And I know that _you_ ," Zoom grabbed Wally's face and forced their eyes to meet. "-are in love with Robin."

Oh, God no…

Wally panted heavily, a sudden, overwhelming feeling of pure terror drowning his pain. Zoom knew how much he cared about Dick. Wally had dragged his best friend into Zoom's sights.


	16. Chapter 16

[Undisclosed Location

Unknown Date, Unknown Time]

" _No_ ," Wally growled. "No fucking way. I'm not going to tell you anything about him!"

"Touchy subject?" Professor Zoom laughed easily. "Don't worry; I'm not judging. I'm from the future, remember? Give it a few decades – the gay rights movement goes civil rights. You can always trust bigotry to die out with the generations. Now, you tell me who Robin is, or I might have to gouge out your eyes. You won't need them for what we have planned for you, and I really want to use him to break you – not that I haven't done a little of that already…"

Wally stared up at him in open fear, unable to keep from trembling. He already knew that Zoom could never make him tell Dick's secrets, no matter what he said or how many fingernails he tore off. Getting his eyes gouged out was no comparison against dying. And since it had already been made abundantly clear that Wally _was_ going to die here – and the fact that he'd already been willing to die for Dick long before this – being blind for the remainder of his days was nothing. Not if it meant Dick was safe.

"Do it," Wally spat at Zoom hatefully. "I'm not telling you who he is."

Zoom took a break from destroying Wally's hands and stepped back to examine him with a tilted head, "Only a teenager, and you're going to endure _torture_ for someone else? That's very noble, Wally."

He drew close again and flattened his hand, holding it so the tips of his fingers were resting lightly against Wally's sternum, "And stupid. Now, we're going to try this again. Who is Robin?"

"Fuck you!" Wally snarled, his racing heartbeat warring between crippling fear and fury.

"Watch that language, young man," Professor Zoom taunted grimly. His entire body starting shaking faster and faster until it was vibrating, and Wally watched in surprise as the villain's features blurred into an indistinguishable mess of moving colors. He hadn't known Zoom could do that, and with his powers nullified, Wally's eyes couldn't keep up.

Then, Zoom sunk his hand into Wally's chest.

He looked down helplessly at the bright yellow arm buried in his torso. He could feel every molecule slipping past his own as Zoom's fingers slid through his skin, into each layer of muscle, and past his ribs like they weren't even there. Wally gasped at the invasion, wriggling uncomfortably and looking up at Zoom in stunned confusion. It didn't hurt exactly, but it wasn't a welcome feeling. Wally frowned, suddenly feeling horrendously exposed and vulnerable.

His wide eyes met Zoom's, and the crazed villain looked absolutely beside himself with dark satisfaction, "Let's slow down the frequency, shall we?"

Wally couldn't detect any differences in Zoom's movements, but the second he started slowing down, a fragmenting, rending agony exploded in his chest. He cried out in frozen shock as his organs and bones were being forced apart infinitesimal piece by infinitesimal piece.

"Are you sure you don't want to tell me his name?" Zoom pulled his hand out a little and spread his fingers _very_ slowly.

The digits tore through his molecules like power saws, ripping an agonized scream from his throat. Wally fought desperately to get away, convulsing in the chair and thrashing his legs and shoulders. His broken fingers cracked and smashed against the armrests, but Wally could barely even tell it was happening. He just squirmed uselessly, screaming until his throat was raw. Zoom curled his fingers and twisted his hand this way and that, slowing his vibrations even more.

Warm, frothy blood came foaming up into his mouth, and Wally coughed to clear his windpipe. The wracking coughs only moved his organs against Zoom's hand more though, and he gave a sharp sob of pain as it ruptured his muscles and sinews.

"Tell me," Zoom laughed loudly, having to shout over Wally's screams to be heard.

Wally looked up at Zoom in a numb, detached sort of horror, choking now on the blood filling his lungs and trailing down his chin. Professor Zoom pulled his hand back out and ceased his vibrations altogether. He kept laughing as Wally slumped limply in the restraints, sweating and shaking in exhaustion.

"Come on, Wally. I don't have all day," Zoom carefully brushed the sweat drenched hair from Wally's eyes, his scarred face looking at him with fake sympathy. "And, neither do you by the looks of it, you poor thing. Just tell me who-"

Zoom's ring finger trailed too close to Wally's jaw, and he lashed out suddenly and bit it, clamping down as hard as he could and jerking his head to the side. He wasn't able to tear it off – Zoom punched him in the stomach to get free, causing Wally to gasp in agony.

"You little bastard," Zoom growled furiously, grabbing a fistful of Wally's hair and violently jerking his head back so he was looking up at the ceiling. Professor Zoom brought their faces close so he could snarl right into Wally's ear. "I'm going to make you regret that."

Zoom shoved the hand back into his chest, and for the next half an hour, Wally screamed and writhed in agony unlike any he'd ever experienced before. It was a hundred times worse than being struck by lightning and a thousand times worse than getting shot. Wally couldn't think through the pain. He screamed for his uncle and his aunt, and for half his teammates, but he never gave up a single name. He didn't reveal any of the security codes for zeta transport.

And he didn't breathe a single word about Dick Grayson.

By the time Professor Zoom realized that he wasn't going to get anything out of him, Wally was nearly unconscious. He'd lost the energy to even scream long ago and was just lying there fighting for each wet, rattling breath of air. His body twitched listlessly, and Zoom just glared at him in cold hatred. The manic glee was gone. It wasn't fun anymore now that he knew he'd failed.

Wally tried to feel satisfied that he'd endured – that he'd won – but he only felt pain. Zoom was no longer tearing him apart molecule by molecule, but the damage had still been done.

"I underestimated you…" Zoom admitted unhappily. He bent down and started unfastening the thick belts holding down Wally's arms and legs.

"What're you doing….?" Wally croaked weakly. His throat was so raw that his voice was barely louder than a whisper.

"We're going on a little field trip," Zoom took a zip tie handcuff and bound Wally's hands behind his back. He tied Wally's ankles together in the same way and then unbuckled the strap holding his torso to the chair. Wally didn't even have an ounce of energy left to fight back. He didn't want to…

"After all, you're in a Manhunter base. Don't you want to see what they have in store for your Justice League?" Zoom stooped down to grab the tie binding Wally's feet and walked to the door, dragging Wally behind him.

He was pulled from the chair legs first, lifelessly cracking his head on the seat and then the floor as Zoom tugged him along like a dead animal. The tiles slid painfully against his head and scraped at the fingers that were trapped between his spine and the ground. Wally winced and struggled weakly to turn onto his side. Zoom made sure he hit the doorway on the way out into the hall and Wally groaned in discomfort, watching the world passing by upside down and the trail of his own blood smearing behind him.

He didn't know how far or for how long Zoom dragged him. Wally was pretty sure he blacked out at least three times along the way. He only became aware of a difference when the sounds of more sets of footsteps reached his ears. He cracked open his eyes and saw feet and pairs of legs moving by and the occasional concerned face turned back to stare at him. Wally tilted his head to look up. His vision was too blurry to pick apart details, but he could tell that the ceiling was very high up, and the walls that he could see were…purple? No…red and blue. Just a _lot_ of red and blue all clustered closely together.

Wally frowned up at what he was seeing, blinking hard to clear his vision and lifting his head half an inch to look around. Professor Zoom dragged him all the way into the massive room and then dropped his feet when they reached their destination. Wally's heels hit the floor with a jarring thud, agitating his settled wounds again. He cringed in pain and rolled onto his side, instinctively pulling his legs in to get as far away from Zoom as possible.

"Take a look," Zoom grabbed Wally's bicep and roughly hauled him to his feet. "This is what's coming down on you all."

Wally forced his eyes open and looked to his left and right wearily. His legs were unable to support his weight, so he just sagged crookedly in Zoom's grasp, his insides churning from a million microscopic tears and from terrified awe. The room was easily bigger than two football stadiums connected end to end and taller than three stacked on top of each other. All around the room, platoons of activated Manhunters stood in formation shoulder to shoulder along every wall and from floor to ceiling, resting on different levels jutting out from the walls like huge shelves. They were all armed, and they were clearly organized and ready for deployment. Wally bet that he could spend most of the day counting them one by one and _still_ not even finish with half of the battalion.

That wasn't all. Hundreds of _humans_ were on the base floor tending to a small fleet of docked – very advanced – spacecraft. Each ship was the size of a cargo plane and equipped with heavy duty weapons. They wouldn't be able to knock the Watchtower out of orbit or anything, but they could sure kill everyone _inside_ it with no problems.

"How long have they been doing this?" he asked, feeling an overwhelming sense of hopelessness pulling on him. How were they supposed to survive this? There were only about thirty-five heroes in the Justice League. Even if each one of them took out a hundred Manhunters, that was only 3,500. Add in the few dozen Green Lanterns that had arrived from Oa to help deal with this and the armies from Atlantis and Themyscira standing ready to fight, and they were barely putting a dent in their numbers. And that was heavily _overestimating_. Not every Atlantean fought like Kaldur and Aquaman, and not every Amazon was as skilled as or had the powers that Wonder Woman did.

There had to be nearly two hundred thousand Manhunters here. Wally didn't know how many Martians were on Mars or how many were willing to help, but there was no way they'd be able to get here before this force mobilized. Even half a day's advance warning wouldn't be enough time to move all the Amazons and Atlanteans before they struck.

They were well and truly screwed.

"Over eighty years," Zoom reported in a bored sort of tone, like this wasn't mind-blowing at all. "Although, _this_ base has only been operational for twenty years and has only just recently been so productive. This one is the largest base on Earth. That would be thanks to Savage and myself."

"You mentioned him before…" Wally struggled to speak and breathe at the same time. "And some kind of formula. What does Vandal Savage have to do with any of this?"

"He's my partner."

Ugh. Of course. Savage and Zoom together was a terrible combination.

"And he's funding my 'formula'," Professor Zoom grinned down at him darkly. "In a way, Wally…you're just as responsible for it as we are – or you're _going_ to be. You're like our third partner. Isn't that exciting?"

No.

Wally felt a huge knot of dread form in his stomach. He'd bet anything that this 'formula' was what they'd taken his blood for.

"I'm _so_ excited…" Wally said quietly with exhausted sarcasm.

Professor Zoom didn't appear to appreciate how impressive it was for Wally to be conscious at all, much less aware of his surroundings and able to be sassy. He cocked an eyebrow at him and stalked away with Wally stumbling along beside him, "Then, you'll want to see what we've been up to."

Wally almost passed out again as he was half dragged once more through a maze of hallways and massive rooms. He tried to catch glimpses of what he was walking through. He wanted to get some kind of bearing on where he was, but the lights were too bright, and they were messing with his head, creating duplicates of everything he looked at.

Another fresh wave of blood bubbled up in his throat, and Wally had to swallow it back down. He couldn't tell exactly what all had been injured, because _everything_ hurt. His entire torso was on fire, his shoulders and knees ached from being restrained for so long, and every errant twitch sent shooting pain through his broken and twisted fingers. It was hard to pinpoint what exactly was the most pressing injury. The internal bleeding seemed most worrying, but he couldn't tell if it was from his heart or lungs. He was sure something was wrong with his ribcage as well. It felt…unstable.

If they were planning on killing him _today_ , then they were good. But if not, Zoom had better take off this collar so he could heal, otherwise Wally wasn't entirely sure he'd make it to tomorrow. Something vital felt really broken.

Professor Zoom finally came to a halt outside some kind of…medical unit? There were double doors heavily locked shut with a hazardous materials warning and 'Authorized Personnel Only' stamped above the doors.

Two Manhunters were standing guard on either side of the doors with twin energy batons at the ready. Wally perked up as much as he was able to at the sight of them. He hadn't seen a real, non-holographic/non-ring construct Manhunter up close like this before. They really _were_ huge; both androids towered above Wally by at least a foot and a half, and their arms were almost as big around as his waist.

He stared up at their stoic, vaguely stern faceplates and into their glowing green eyes with wonder. They were much more intimidating in person, and Wally almost lost his cool. He was unable to even support his own weight, completely out of breath and extremely at the mercy of something that had murdered an entire space sector.

Professor Zoom, arrogant as ever, went right up to the pair of androids and unlocked the door almost as if he couldn't see them. He dragged Wally in behind him, and Wally passed within two feet of a Manhunter. Its expressionless face turned to watch him go through the door and then returned to its normal position. A weak tremor went up Wally's spine. He'd never seen one _move_ up close either.

Wally stared at the Manhunters until the double doors closed behind him, cutting them off from view. Zoom kept pulling him along into the room, and Wally twisted back around to face forward. That's where he found about twelve pairs of eyes trained on him. Wally stared back in dazed shock at first, and then he saw the rest of the ward.

It was a laboratory.

The walls and floor were lined with computer terminals and specialized equipment. Lab technicians dressed in red and blue were manning every station, and he even saw an enclosed section in the back with two acolytes in Hazmat suits. Wally couldn't see what they were doing, but there was a biohazard symbol plastered on the clear glass dividing them from the rest of the room. Beside that, there were ten massive glass tanks full of a reddish orange liquid slowly bubbling and churning while three techs monitored it. On another table, a machine was adding a dark red liquid to twenty smaller beakers of the same liquid filling the tanks.

That's when Wally saw the two women who'd drawn his blood and taken it away. He also spotted the now empty rack that had held the samples.

The dark liquid they were adding in was Wally's blood. He was sure of it.

He looked up at Professor Zoom questioningly and found his mismatched eyes already staring back in quiet amusement. Zoom nodded towards the ten tanks with a grin, "What do you think?"

Wally looked at the reddish orange liquid again, "What is it?"

"Velocity 8," Zoom said with fond pride. "Soon to be Velocity 9 once the newest modification is completed. It's taken nine tries to get it just right, but I think we're finally about to crack it."

Wally saw a pair of acolytes sitting in chairs with tourniquets tied above their elbows. He watched as a tech finished stirring one of the beakers that his blood had been added to. They unwrapped a syringe and filled it with the mixture and then filled a second one. The tech headed for the two seated acolytes and began gently flicking the syringes to clear them of any air bubbles.

Oh, not good… It was a drug. With _his_ _blood_ in it.

Zoom must've seen the color drain from his face, because he chuckled darkly and shoved Wally forward, "You know what this is, don't you? Velocity 9 is going to be the hottest new recreational drug on the market. It'll give you a high better than anything you'd get on Ecstasy plus the added effect of being able to run at the speed of sound."

Oh, no way…

"Of course, it's killed all of my test subjects so far, but we're working on that," Zoom laughed. "When we're done, it won't be 'take it and die'. It'll be 'take it and _keep_ taking it or die'."

"Since when are you a drug dealer?" Wally hit the floor with a sharp grunt of pain and curled up on his side to protect his fingers and torso. More blood rushed up his esophagus.

"Since Vandal Savage came to me and asked if I could make him a speed formula that was highly addictive," Zoom answered with a lazy shrug. "I told him it couldn't be done, but when I saw all that the Manhunters had to share, I reconsidered."

"Okay," Wally struggled to a kneeling position and shook the hair out of his eyes. "What the hell…do you have to do with Manhunters? Because I don't get what they could possibly want drugs and money for. Those two things sound like pretty _human_ wants."

"You're dumber than I thought," Zoom sighed impatiently. He walked right by Wally and up to the row of tanks. "Do you know how long it takes to make a single Manhunter?"

Wally hated playing into Zoom's monologuing, but he didn't want to be in the dark anymore. If Zoom wanted to even the ground a little, then that was fine with him, "No."

"Almost two days," Zoom told him. He placed one hand lovingly on the tank. "Do you know how long it would take you or me, given the knowledge and correct instructions?"

Wally felt cold realization hit him in the face.

"An hour," Zoom turned to glance at Wally over his shoulder.

Wally connected the dots rather quickly for being cut off from his powers, "You created this drug to make Manhunters."

"I created it to get rich," Zoom corrected him. "The _Manhunters_ helped me so they could use humans to make more Manhunters."

"Yeah, real important distinction there," Wally rolled his eyes. He didn't know why, but it was really important to him that he didn't look so weak in front of all these Manhunter acolytes.

"I thought it was a fair deal," Zoom shrugged. "The Manhunters provide me with everything I need to make Velocity, and I use the acolytes as test subjects. Then, they build Manhunters at superspeed until they drop dead from heart failure, and I make the formula better. Once it's complete, the Manhunters will have a way to increase their numbers faster than their little robot dreams could have hoped, and I will leave to go become a very rich man once Savage sets Velocity loose on the market."

"You know they're going to completely wipe out all life on Earth, right? You're helping to kill your own species. Even if they let you live, there's not going to be anything or anyone to spend all those riches on."

"I'm a creature of opportunity," Zoom laughed. "One, Earth isn't scheduled for annihilation for a few hundred years. It's too important to increasing the Manhunter's numbers right now. You can actually thank Savage and me for that; it was scheduled for fifty years from now at first. Two, I'll be long dead before then. Three, I'm a time traveler. I can live in whatever time I want. I'll just pop into the past if this all goes south, which it won't, because… Four, this doesn't work. I'm from the future, and the world obviously exists in my time period, so I think that's proof enough. Just don't tell the Manhunters. I think that would make them a little upset."

"Well, how noble of you," Wally mimicked him from earlier.

"You shouldn't care either. You'll be dead long before V9 hits the streets," Zoom glared at him. "And everyone you love up in that Watchtower will be dead right after that happens."

"Why did you pick me to use?" Wally asked, watching in rapt attention as both acolytes were injected with the drug. "Why go to all the trouble when you could've used your own blood?"

"I _started_ the formula with my blood," Zoom looked at him like he was stupid. "It clearly didn't work like we wanted it to. We needed something else. _You_."

"But _why_?! I'm not even close to being the fastest speedster out there," Wally still didn't get it.

"But you're the easiest to catch – although that was just a bonus," Zoom shrugged. "I needed you because Barry Allen, Jay Garrick, and I were already adults when we got our powers. They're written into our DNA now but not as intricately as yours are. You were only ten years old when you were struck by the Speed Force. You've grown up with your speed, so your body is the best adapted to your powers out of all of us. If I'm going to fix Velocity, I need to use your DNA to solve the riddle and keep all my customers from dying in a day. Savage says it's bad business to have all your clients die off before they can even get addicted. He has a point. We don't want thousands of new metahumans zipping around or anything, but it would be nice if Velocity didn't kill them right away."

The second half of Zoom's little ramble was one hundred percent lost on Wally. He stopped listening the second Professor Zoom mentioned how Wally got his powers, "Uhm…I was struck by _lightning_ , not anything called the 'Speed Force'…whatever that is…"

"Don't worry about it," Zoom waved it off in irritation. "You won't discover it for several years. We were talking about Velocity, remember?"

Wally felt sick to his stomach. If Zoom figured out a way to use him like that, Wally could be directly responsible for all those deaths. He hunched over to try and put some pressure on his abdomen without being able to use his arms, "How do you know if this will even work? What if it doesn't and you've just pissed off the Justice League for nothing?"

"I don't care if I've angered the 'Super Friends'. Even if the Manhunters hadn't had to blow their cover to go get your father, the League would have found out about them sooner or later. The Manhunters have been recruiting too many humans; that many humans mean errors. Lots of them. _Someone_ would've screwed up eventually," Zoom seemed unconcerned. "It just happened to be your bumbling idiot of a father who did it."

Wally couldn't disagree with that last bit.

"As for whether or not this will work," Zoom chuckled. "It already has… Velocity 8 was already infused with your blood."

He frowned in confusion, "What…? But they _just_ took those blood samples."

"Your father's brought me samples of your blood before," Zoom suddenly grinned like a hyena. "Along with some…oh, just some of the _best_ stories about him beating the ever loving shit out of you. I actually think about them quite a lot. Ooh! My favorite is the time he kicked you so hard that your ribs broke. And, and, and… _then_ you had to spar with Barry the next day, and it made the breaks _worse!_ "

Nausea kept Wally down on the floor as the room swam all around him. He remembered that day too. His dad had gotten angry because one of his patrols with Uncle Barry had run so late into the night that he and Aunt Iris had insisted that Wally stay at their house instead of running all the way home. They'd done it because they loved him and wanted him to get enough rest, but it had enraged his father that Wally disobeyed his order to come home immediately after patrol was over. The beating had been particularly bad. Wally had indeed broken several ribs, and he'd had to set them himself, otherwise he'd risk people finding out. The Team hadn't been formed by then, but Wally still saw Dick and Roy pretty regularly – and Kaldur on rare occasion. Uncle Barry had been the real challenge. Wally had a training session with his uncle the next day, and the main focus had been sparring.

Wally had needed to be slower and more careful to guard his chest while they fought, but Uncle Barry had always trained him to go for center mass when facing an enemy because that's how _he_ fought. So, he'd delivered several light tags to Wally's torso, unknowingly causing him severe agony. It had been excruciating, but Wally couldn't ask his uncle to cancel the sparring session without giving away that he was injured. Uncle Barry would have definitely wanted to know who had hurt his nephew so badly that bones had been broken. So, Wally had just grit his teeth and tried his very hardest to make his pain look like determination. It had worked, but Wally had all but collapsed after the session and Aunt Iris had just about torn Uncle Barry's ears off yelling at him for pushing her nephew so hard.

It hadn't been his fault, of course, but Uncle Barry had taken his punishment from his wife without complaint and spent the rest of his day off watching movies with Wally and making sure he rested. He'd really been broken up thinking that he'd been the cause of his nephew's pain. Wally had felt _awful_ about letting him believe it, but he'd had no other choice – not without revealing that he'd been hurt prior to their session. It had seriously torn him up inside to accidentally torment his uncle like that, but the fear he'd had then of his uncle thinking he was weak and pathetic had been enough to keep him silent.

"Didn't you ever wonder what your father did to you _after_ he would knock you unconscious?" Zoom came and sat down beside him, shooting an arm out and wrapping it around Wally's shoulders before he could resist. Wally struggled desperately to get away, but in his weakened state it was useless. Zoom pulled Wally closer like they were old buddies and smiled. "He's been bringing me your blood for months. That's how I know it'll work. Even just _dumping_ your blood into Velocity makes it better. Can you imagine how much better it'll become once I _refine_ it? We'll be in business, and I can finally stop spending all my time in here with all these mindless robots…and I'm not just talking about the humans."

Wally stopped fighting and just sat there on the ground with Professor Zoom in a daze. He didn't know if it was blood loss or what, but his head felt numb. Wally couldn't think, couldn't _feel_. He just let Zoom shake him jovially and whisper right in his ear.

"And then I get to kill you~"

Wally felt dizzy. He took a deep breath and tried not to cough at the new pain it brought his lungs. Both acolytes that had been injected with Velocity were now on their feet and testing out the drug. Wally watched in growing horror as they zoomed around the lab in laps, moving so fast that Wally's eyes couldn't keep up.

They seemed jittery and erratic – not at all in control of their own bodies – and one was drooling freely but didn't seem to notice. Seeing the perversion of his powers made Wally feel sick to his stomach again. He held his breath and closed his eyes as the two acolytes received orders to build as many Manhunters as they could before their hearts gave out. Then, they just _left_ to go do exactly that. No complaints. No protests about throwing their lives away. Not even a tiny bit of fear when their orders clearly implicated that they were absolutely going to die. God, this was so wrong.

Zoom gave him a quick squeeze and then stood up in the blink of an eye, "Well, that's about all for today. I think it's time for you to go back to your cell. Do you think you're good to walk, or…? You know what, we'll just knock you out just to make sure you don't struggle any more. It's really getting old."

Before it clicked in Wally head what he was about to do, Zoom keyed the remote to the inhibitor collar. Less than half a second later, Wally was writhing on the ground, choking on his own blood as the convulsions agitated his wounds. It felt like forever, and he just tried his best to lie very still until the shocks were over.

"Christina," he heard Zoom say very regally. "Take him back to his cell and remove the collar. He needs to heal if he's going to be any good to us past the next ten hours. _Don't_ take off the collar until he's inside."

Wally felt someone grab the back of his shirt and lift him up halfway. He cried out weakly and craned his neck as far as he could to see who was picking him up. Wild, dark red hair was the first thing he saw followed by a very familiar white and light blue costume. Recognition bloomed in his dazed mind, and he forced his muscles to turn his head the rest of the way.

It was the same woman who'd attacked him out on the Pacific Ocean. Wally had vaguely wondered where she was, and now he wished that he still didn't know. She'd been the one who'd knocked off his goggles and injected him with the sedative that rendered him unconscious.

Christina started to pull him away roughly when Zoom called her back, "Find him some food too. His metabolism will kill him without it once the collar is removed and his powers are restored."

Wally felt his heart sink. His father had even told Zoom his weaknesses. It wasn't exactly surprising, but…the betrayal still hurt for some reason – even after everything.

He didn't fight back when Christina dragged him all the way through the halls until they were in the darkened warehouse section of the Manhunter compound. He heard the mechanical whirring of the cell lifting up, and then he was being pushed onto the floor. Wally looked up in time to see her disappear for an instant and reappear again with an armful of vacuum packed military food rations. She tossed them in before deactivating the collar around Wally's neck and removing it rapidly. She shoved him onto his back and then brought the glass walls of the cell down around him without a single word. Maybe she was like the other two and couldn't speak either. Zoom _had_ said they were ruined, but Wally had no idea if that was what he'd meant by it. He didn't appear fond of them in any case, despite his obvious pleasure in ordering them around.

The cell locked shut with a loud clang, and Christina sped away, leaving him alone in the dim. For a long minute, Wally just lay there on his side, arms and legs still bound tightly. He closed his eyes and listened to his rapidly quickening pulse in his head. Having his powers back was like being able to breathe again. Wally felt a little less helpless. He felt a little stronger, especially with his wounds already starting to heal. Wally took a cautious breath and could already feel his organs starting to knit back together.

Oh, crap…

His fingers.

They were going to heal wrong.

Not even bothering to stifle his groan, Wally arched his back, trying to extend his arms out as far behind him as they would go. He carefully braced most of his weight on one shoulder, which veritably screamed in protest, and drew his legs up. Wally tucked his knees into his chest and slid his bound ankles through the shaky loop that his arms formed. He whimpered as the muscles strained well past their usual flexibility but managed to get his arms around his shins.

Wally rolled onto his back and pulled his arms the rest of the way over his knees so that they were no longer trapped behind his back. He went limp and just rested his hands on his stomach as his shoulders adjusted to the normal position. It _almost_ hurt more to have his arms in front, but he knew that was just because they'd been abused all day long.

He waited a few more seconds before forcing himself into a sitting position and scooting along the floor to rest his back against the glass. He didn't have much time to fix his fingers; otherwise he'd have to _re_ break them. Wally took a deep breath and looked down at his hands.

They were bad. He'd felt it, but for some reason, it was easier to imagine that the injuries were less severe if he didn't look at them.

Wally scanned each bent and broken digit with a grimace and wondered where to begin. Might as well start with the thumb. He carefully lined the base of his thumb along the inside of one knee and the bent tip against the inside of the other. Wally took a deep breath and tried to steel his resolve.

Okay, on the count of three.

One…

Two…

Three…

Wally exhaled with a sob and looked away from the still broken thumb. Jeez, he'd just endured over an hour of torture, and he couldn't bring himself to realign a _thumb_? He tried to control his trembling limbs and decided to try again.

One…

Two…

Wally suddenly brought his knees together on the thumb like a bear trap. He gave a scream of pain and threw his head back against the glass. There had been a razor sharp stinging pain and a gut turning grinding noise. Wally worked up the nerve to peek at the thumb and found that it was no longer crooked. He exhaled in relief. It was set. He'd need to bind it with something once he was done so it wouldn't shift out of place, but it was set.

He looked at the other nine fingers and felt his nausea return full force. Nine to go…

Wally figured how to best repair his index finger and then lined it up between his knees. He took a deep breath, clenched his teeth, and set about mending his hands.


	17. Chapter 17

[Central City

March 25, 08:00 EST]

Dick checked and rechecked his utility belt. He pulled his gauntlets tighter over his hands. He frowned periodically just to scrunch up his domino mask and feel that it was there. Each and every one of his weapons and gadgets had been touched at least five times as he took mental inventory of them. The controls on Miss Martian's bio-ship had been used to look at the ship's vitals and progress as they closed in on Central City.

They were to be support to a team of Justice Leaguers.

As they raided Amunet Black's base of operations.

Dick took a deep breath to try and steady himself and narrowed his eyes at the ship's windshield. He hadn't felt this nervous in a long time. They were closing in on Professor Zoom. He knew it. Cheshire had found this lead for them, and Roy trusted that it wasn't a trap. Roy did not trust easily.

This was to be a long mission.

The Justice Leaguers were going to tail Blacksmith wherever she went while the Team tracked down each and every one of the drug dealers and suppliers that were on Cheshire's list. There were twelve in Central and Keystone, and the Team's job was to track them all down and extract any information they could.

While all of that was happening, Bruce was going to be inside Blacksmith's hideout, planting bugs, tracers, and traps. He was going to search the place for clues. Dick was confident that if anyone could find something to go on, it would be his mentor.

He ran a thumb beneath the cross shaped seatbelt to loosen it and let it quietly snap back. They were _going_ to find Wally. Dick tapped the floor impatiently with his foot. Everything was coming together. They had new leads, and they had a plan. He rapidly tapped his middle and ring fingers against his thigh as he fidgeted in his seat.

"Robin," Zatanna reached out and placed a slender hand on his shoulder.

Dick paused and looked over his shoulder at her, swiveling the chair around halfway, "Yeah?"

"You're making me nervous," she gave him a forgiving smile. "Just try to calm down. We're almost there."

"Sorry. I'm a little on edge. We've lost huge leads like this before, and I'm just worried this one will go the same way. I don't want to screw up our chance to find Wally," Dick let out a sigh and rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly. "Speaking of…I'm sorry I snapped at you yesterday. I know you were just trying to calm me down. I really appreciate you trying to help me deal with this."

Zatanna's face lit up with a sweet smile, and she shrugged like the compliment hadn't caused it, "It's no big deal. I just want you to know that I'm here for you if you need anything."

Something about the way she said that tripped a warning bell in Dick's head. Not a bad one or anything, but definitely…off. Her smile was too wide, and her eyes too hopeful as she waited for him to say something back to her, and Dick kind of thought he knew what she was thinking. He felt realization dawning and bit his lip. She liked him.

"Uh…thanks, Zee," he replied awkwardly and turned back around in his seat before she had the chance to say anything else. That was an interesting development. The distraction definitely wasn't welcome right now though – not with them on the way to a crucial mission. He could deal with it later.

Dick couldn't help feeling bad though. It wasn't as though Zatanna wasn't attractive or anything. She really was very pretty, and smart, and funny. And Dick could appreciate how blue her eyes were and how soft her hair looked. Plus, the girl was a freaking magician. Zatanna was definitely a catch.

But Dick wanted _green_ eyes and wild, red hair that always looked chronically windswept. He wanted corny jokes and clumsy feet. He wanted long limbs that could burn kilometers in seconds. Dick wanted unbridled spirit and freedom, and stubborn defiance.

He wanted Wally.

Dick felt his nerves vanish completely. His fidgeting ceased, and he sat up taller in the bio-ship's seat, full of renewed purpose. They were going to find something that led to Professor Zoom, and then they were going to break the demented villain in half. If Dick was lucky, Rudy West would be there too. He'd beat the tar out of Wally's father until he either killed him or someone pulled him off. Then, Dick was going to rescue his best friend, shove him up against a wall, and tell him that he loved him. Because he'd wasted enough time already being scared, and he wasn't about to lose another second.

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[Central City

March 25, 08:00 EST]

Barry Allen looked up at the camouflaged bio-ship through the lenses of his Flash cowl. He felt his whole body tingling in nervous anticipation as the ship landed in the heavily wooded park that was completely deserted. He was closer to finding Wally than he'd ever been so far, and it was extremely difficult to wait around for others when all he wanted to do was run off and take on Blacksmith himself.

 _"We_ will _find him,"_ Clark said in his head. He was trying to be reassuring, but it just made Barry irritated. _He_ had no idea what it was like to worry every picosecond of every minute whether Wally was even still alive or not. And if he was, had Zoom broken his legs yet? Or shattered his spine? Zoom hated Wally so much that Barry knew it would never be enough for Zoom to just hurt him. He would cripple Wally if he was given the chance, and Wally had already been through so much. Barry didn't know if they'd be able to fix him even if they did find him alive. He was only sixteen. All of this was too much for him to handle at once. It was going to seriously mess Wally up.

Hell, _Barry_ could hardly handle it. He hadn't slept for even a minute since Wally had been taken, and he'd only eaten whatever Hal had forced down his throat. At this point, he was only running on desperation and rage. He wasn't blind either; he knew what it was doing to him. He'd crossed lines and done things that he couldn't take back. Barry had thought it would be hard to do whatever it took to track down his nephew, but compromising his morals and his rigid code of right and wrong had been surprisingly easy. _So_ easy.

He could feel J'onn's consciousness reaching out to test his frame of mind. Barry knew that they all thought he was unstable. He didn't appreciate the lack of trust, but a small part of his rational brain couldn't deny that he hadn't done very much in the last few days to deserve their trust. Barry _wanted_ to stop being like this, but he knew he couldn't until Wally was safe.

 _"Focus on scanning for Amunet Black,"_ Barry thought back to him coldly. He felt Clark's answering nod through J'onn's established mind link and immediately felt terrible. The worst part was that Clark had been far more understanding and courteous about everything than he needed to be, and Barry had been nothing but volatile and ungrateful in return. Once this was over, he'd probably just clap Barry on the back, smile, and forgive him right on the spot.

Both J'onn and Clark were scanning Central and Keystone from the skies, and Barry was going to tackle the ground search. He was just waiting for the Team to land so he could give them their instructions and coordinate, and then he'd be off.

It was time to find his nephew.

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[The Watchtower

March 25, 08:00 EST]

Iris had stopped crying a day ago. It wasn't helping _anything,_ and it was a waste of time. Professor Zoom wouldn't give Wally back because she cried hard enough. So, she abandoned her husband's quarters in the Watchtower in favor of the medical bay. That's where she'd been spending almost every hour since.

She clutched Max's arm hooked around her neck and kept her own arm firmly around his back while they slowly made their way around the hospital room, "How's that feel?"

"Healed," Max grumbled but still held on to her for support when he put pressure on his almost healed leg. He really was nearly healed, but the femur wasn't yet strong enough for normal running, much less superspeed. Dr. Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific were estimating another day before he was one hundred percent again. While that kind of time frame was phenomenal, it wasn't good enough for Max.

He and Jay were _mad._ Wally had been kidnapped right out from under their noses, and they both wanted revenge but weren't well enough to fight yet. Iris could relate. She was furious too, but not at either of them. There wasn't much they could've done fighting over water. It was Professor Zoom and the three speedsters everyone had been calling Blue Trinity that she wanted to strangle.

"This is taking too damn long," Max glared at his own leg as he and Iris took another lap around the room.

"You could be worse. Quit complaining, Max." Joan said evenly from her spot beside her husband's bed. Jay was sitting upright and exercising the arm that had been reattached. He'd complained that it was a little stiff, but the nerves had connected properly, and he'd regain full use of the arm in a matter of days. His legs were still too weak to use, so Terrific and Mid-Nite had put them in casts just to be safe because speedsters had a track record for being impatient, and Jay would almost certainly try to move the limbs before they were ready.

Iris and Joan knew the drill.

"I'll stop complaining when Jay and I can go after Blue Trinity and break _their_ legs," Max growled angrily.

"You're going to go after them again?" Iris asked disapprovingly. "After they almost killed you?"

"It wouldn't have happened that way if we were on land when they attacked," Jay promised her, wincing when his arm locked up.

"You said they were faster than Barry," Joan sighed at his words. "How do you expect to beat them? There are more of them than you and Max, and if you haven't noticed, you aren't fifty anymore."

"You didn't see them, Joan." Max let Iris help him to an empty chair by Jay's bedside. He grimaced a little in pain. "They were fast, but sloppy. Almost like they were feral or something. They had the power but no idea how to fight beyond clawing and punching."

"If we'd been on solid ground, our experience would have won out," Jay agreed. "Barry said they were on some kind of drug. I don't know what it was, but it clearly messed with their minds."

"I almost thought they were in some sort of trance or under mind control, but they were too vicious for that," Max shook his head.

Iris looked between them both unhappily, "If you go after them, take Barry or Johnny with you. I don't want to see any more of my family in the hospital ever again."

Joan reached out and took her hand with a sad smile, "We don't either, darling. Jay and Max are just blowing hot air. They're both retired for a reason."

"Regardless," Jay frowned angrily, gritting his teeth and flexing his injured arm once more. "If the League doesn't bring Wally back soon, Max and I are going out ourselves and bringing my grandson back."

Iris watched them all worriedly, getting the inexplicable feeling that one way or another, it would be too late by the time they were both healed.

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[Undisclosed Location

Unknown Date, Unknown Time]

"You look pathetic."

Wally jerked awake in surprise. He looked around his cell blearily and spotted his father standing right in front of the glass. He was in his Manhunter uniform, standing with his hands clasped behind his back and a disgusted expression on his face. Wally was lying on his side with his hands carefully extended away from him in case he moved in his sleep. Setting them had been excruciating, and Wally _really_ hadn't wanted to do it again. He cautiously flexed his index finger and was relieved to see it bend at his command without any pain at all. Encouraged, he curled the rest of his fingers. They were all healed correctly except for his left thumb and pinky finger. They didn't hurt, but neither would move when he tried.

He sat up slowly with a preemptive cringe, waiting for his chest to light up in burning pain, but it never happened. He was a little sore, but that was mostly his muscles protesting the abuse they'd received yesterday. All the internal wounds on his organs must have closed while he was unconscious because he didn't have that metal taste in his mouth anymore. Wally wiped at his face and neck, feeling little flakes of dried blood rubbing off.

The collar…

Suddenly panicked, Wally felt all over his neck and collarbone for an inhibitor collar but found nothing. He sighed in shaky relief and slumped weakly against the glass. It looked like his body had healed well enough, but it had taken all his energy in the process.

He tiredly looked back at his dad and honestly didn't even feel any fear. Wally didn't know what else they could to do him that would be worse than what happened yesterday. Zoom had tortured him, let him see the Justice League's sure death, and shown him that he was going to be responsible for a horror drug about to be released. The worst his dad could do now was rub salt in the wound. Wally really didn't think he could break his spirit down any more than they already had.

"What do you want…?" Wally mumbled quietly.

His dad's face screwed up in anger, "Don't talk to me like that."

Wally had to laugh. It was such an absurdly typical thing for his dad to say. It would have usually been followed by one of his rages – a punch, or throwing Wally into a wall. Before all this, talking back like that would've terrified him, but now…

He didn't care. He wasn't afraid.

That thought should have empowered him, but Wally just felt numb. He just stared back at his dad expressionlessly and let it all go, "Why not?"

"Because I'm your father, and you _will_ respect me."

Wally exhaled softly in a short laugh and nodded, "Okay. Sure."

His dad seemed incensed by that, but he controlled his anger for the moment. His veins were starting to bulge out of his forehead, "How did you survive? I watched you bleed to death."

Why the hell did he care? Wally shrugged, "I don't know. Uncle Barry saved me."

 _That_ definitely pissed him off, though it seemed like he already knew that. He must not like people mentioning his brother-in-law. "You were already dead when he got to you, and I know bringing people back from the dead isn't one of his powers. So, tell me the truth. How did you survive?"

"I don't _know_ ," Wally sighed, feeling his midsection start to ache from the strain of talking. It felt a little like nausea but also like he'd done a thousand sit ups while having his atoms rearranged. "I was _dead_ for about ninety-five percent of it."

"Not while he was trying to save you!" his dad shrieked furiously. He stomped closer and pointed one shaking finger right at him. "You had to have done something _before_ I killed you. Taken something, or-?"

"Taken _what?_ " Wally laughed helplessly, a tinge of borderline, exhausted hysteria creeping into his voice. "Headache medicine? An antacid? _Anti-death_ pill? What the hell could I have taken that would've saved me – and _how_ would I have known you were going to kill me? You hadn't even hit me in two weeks before that."

"Don't play games with me. You know what you did!" his father raged, his face now almost blue. Maybe if he was lucky, his dad would give himself a heart attack or an aneurism and drop dead. Wally tried to imagine him lying dead on the floor. Would that make him feel satisfied?

Wally sighed inwardly. No. Even after everything his father had done to him – how he'd killed his mother… Wally still didn't want him dead. He didn't want anyone dead. It wasn't because he loved his dad. Wally had _zero_ feelings of affection for the hateful, cruel man that had 'raised' him. He didn't particularly think his dad deserved to live either, but too many people had died already. Wally just wasn't the type to wish death on anyone. The only thing he'd ever wanted was to see justice done for his mom, but…that hadn't quite worked out right.

"Okay, whatever. You got me," Wally closed his eyes and gave up. "I magically knew you were going to kill me _that_ day, so I borrowed Wonder Woman's invisible bulletproof vest and slathered ketchup all over myself so you wouldn't get suspicious. Satisfied?"

For a second, it totally looked like his father was about to combust in pure fury, but he fought it down and took a really deep breath. When he had a handle on himself again and his face turned slightly less purple, he fixed Wally with a calm and superior look, "The only thing better than watching you die will be watching it for a second time when Zoom kills you right in front of Allen. He wanted you to be his son so badly, and it will make it that much sweeter when Zoom rips you away again."

Wally wanted his uncle to be his dad. He'd been wishing it for years. Every birthday since he was ten, every first star at night, and every time his dad made him feel less than human. Although, Wally had never ever felt quite as low as he did right now with his dad not five feet away and saying that killing him once hadn't been enough.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Wally asked in a strangled, barely audible voice. His throat was constricting, and his chest felt hollow. He didn't want to sound like a broken-hearted little boy whose daddy didn't love him, but that's exactly how he felt. He didn't really care about his dad, but it still hurt so unbelievably much that his dad didn't give a damn about him. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I think those are both questions you should be asking yourself," his dad sneered down at him indifferently.

It didn't hit him what that meant at first. Wally stared at his dad in confusion for a long minute before he understood, "You're saying it's all _my_ fault – that you beat the hell out of me for ten years because I had it coming?"

"Yes." His dad said simply.

Wally floundered for a response. Guess his dad was getting his wish to walk to him after all. "What did I do wrong? I tried for years to be exactly what you wanted, and it never helped. It didn't change anything."

"You didn't 'try'. You hero-worshipped your uncle from the time you were eight and refused to focus on anything worthwhile! I tried to get you to take your future seriously, and you just chased after dreams. Look at what that gets you in the long run! Allen's a forensic analyst at the police station – a dead end job at a mediocre pay. What does he accomplish with that? Pulling small time crooks off the street?" his dad ranted.

"Jeez, why are you so fixated on Uncle Barry?!" Wally sighed. His uncle's day job was hardly 'dead end', and, while Wally hadn't ever seen one of Uncle Barry's paychecks, he'd also never seen his aunt go wanting for anything. Also, his uncle's forensic work had sent more than 'crooks' to jail. Just a few months before Christmas, Uncle Barry had single-handedly caught a serial killer that was using the Missouri River as their dumping grounds with his evidence. "You sound like you're jealous of him."

"I'm not jealous! I've accomplished more good in my lifetime than _he_ ever will!"

Wally heavily doubted that, but he kept the thought to himself.

"Okay, I believe you," Wally just shook his head and tried not to roll his eyes. "Just tell me what you wanted me to be, because I still don't get it."

"I wanted you to listen to me. I wanted you to be interested in something that would be useful to the Manhunters," his dad threw his arms out to the side in frustration. "You think I _wanted_ to hurt my only son?! I wanted you to join the Manhunters and work with me so that I could finally be proud of you."

Wally felt physically ill. It wouldn't have ever been any different. The only way he could have ever made his dad care about him was if he'd been a villain, and that was _never_ going to happen.

"But, you insisted on being worthless," his dad went on. "You didn't leave me with any choice."

"I'm being pretty useful with fixing Velocity, aren't I?" Wally said bitterly.

"Yes, and you'll be dead in a few days once it's finished and we don't need you anymore."

That perked Wally up a bit, "It's almost done? Already?"

"Professor Zoom finished it last night, and he thinks he cracked why it was killing in three hours," his dad nodded.

"Did he test it yet?" Wally asked in dismay.

"Right at midnight. It's eight in the morning now, and neither of the subjects were showing any side effects the last time I looked in on them," his dad said ominously. "Maybe you should start saying your prayers, son. It shouldn't be long now."

Wally dropped his gaze and just stared at his own feet in stunned silence. He'd expected it to take at least a few days for Zoom to perfect the formula. He'd thought he had more time to…get rescued. Wally frowned sadly at the floor of his cell. Who was he kidding? There'd never been any chance of him being saved in the first place. Professor Zoom and the Manhunters had covered their tracks too well. Those hopes had just been delusions.

His dad placed one hand on the glass of the cell and glared down at Wally grimly, "Don't worry. You'll get to see your uncle again. I'll be back once we're ready for you to record the SOS message that we'll send to him along with your location."

As his father walked out of the room, Wally felt his eyes sting with helpless tears. He didn't deserve to be rescued. All of this was his fault.

 _His_ father had used him to speed up the production of a Manhunter army.

Professor Zoom's vendetta against _him_ had helped make him a target.

 _His_ kidnapping had gotten Max and Jay killed.

 _He_ was going to be luring Uncle Barry to his death.

Wally brought his hands up to his face and awkwardly dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. He pulled his knees up to his chest and just sat there for the next hour drowning in his own self-hatred. How the hell had he let it get this bad? The hollow in his chest grew larger and seemed to consume the rest of his energy.

He just wanted it to be over. The Justice League was probably wasting valuable time and resources looking for him – time and resources that could be spent preparing for an undefeatable force of Manhunters that would soon be bearing down on them.

Wally should just off himself right now. That would be the selfless thing to do. It would be the _right_ thing to do. That way, he couldn't be used to drag Uncle Barry into a trap. And, really, everyone would be better off without him. They didn't really _need_ him. Wally wasn't anything special. He was the slowest speedster. The Justice League wouldn't miss him any – they had the Flash already. The Team might miss him a little, but they could absolutely complete missions without him.

Aunt Iris would probably be glad. She wouldn't have to deal with him being around so often, and he wouldn't be a burden on her anymore. When Wally was gone and they didn't have to be his guardians anymore, she and Uncle Barry could start their own family free of all his emotional baggage. And Uncle Barry wouldn't have Wally holding him back either.

Dick would…

Wally's heart shuddered irregularly.

Dick could find a new best friend – one who wasn't secretly perving on him all the time. He could have a normal friendship with someone else, and he'd move on. Maybe whoever they were would make a better team than Robin and Kid Flash.

Maybe it would be Robin and Zatanna.

His heart twisted painfully, and he let his head fall back against the glass of the cell walls. Wally shut his eyes, and he could very easily imagine Dick getting over his death and falling for Zatanna instead. That's what was bound to happen. She definitely had a thing for Dick, and the two of them looked good together. So, why not? Maybe she'd even help him get over Wally's death faster.

It would probably only take a few weeks, and then he'd forget all about Wally.

_'We're best friends, and we stick together no matter what.'_

Wally jerked upright suddenly. That sounded like Dick's voice.

_'From now on, I'm with you the whole way.'_

That was _definitely_ Dick's voice, but Wally wasn't hearing it externally. Great, now he was hearing voices. Wally was prepared to write it off as a hallucination, but then something happened. He was suddenly picturing Dick's confident grin and seeing the concern in his eyes when he'd said those things to Wally. He remembered all the nights that Dick had spent with him, sleeping lightly so he could wake Wally up in case he had a nightmare. He thought about Dick helping him break out of the Watchtower's medical bay for exercise when he started to spiral into a depression from being -

Wally cut off the train of thought and pushed away from the wall like it had burned him, his eyes flying open wide and his arms shooting out to steady himself before he fell over.

What the hell was he doing?!

He was letting his father's words get to him and force him into another depression. Wally took a deep, gasping breath of air and slapped himself across the face as best he could manage with both wrists bound together. He was an _idiot_.

Of course his aunt and uncle would miss him. He was probably putting his aunt through hell right now after being missing for so long. She had to be out of her mind with worry.

And Uncle Barry must be killing himself trying to find him. He probably had half the Justice League out as well helping him look. Ugh, and the Team had to be trying their very best to track down every lead they had, because they never left anyone behind. The Team was like a family.

Roy had almost assuredly gone on a rampage by now. Wally wondered if he'd torn apart any cities in what had to be a violent and frantic search for his younger brother.

Then, there was Dick. He and Dick were in this together, and it was about time Wally stopped making him worry.

He got to his feet unsteadily and stared down at the zip tie cuffs around his wrist, trying to think of a way out of them. He couldn't believe he'd started to listen to his father's words again. Wally shook his head rapidly and hit himself in the forehead.

He wasn't worthless.

He was the partner of the fastest man alive and well on his way to becoming his equal.

He had a lot of people who loved him – people who he needed to get back to. Right now. Wally didn't have any more time to wait. They were looking for him, but they'd never find him in time.

Wally needed to save himself.

He eyed the thin but strong zip ties around his wrists. He wasn't strong enough to break them – not without slicing his skin or dislocating something in the process. And he had nothing to cut them off with. His teeth weren't anywhere near sharp enough to bite them off. So, how did he remove them? Dick had probably been taught about a hundred ways to escape from handcuffs like this, but Wally and his uncle hadn't really done any training in escape artist work. They were usually far too fast to get caught. He stood there silently for a few long minutes as he thought hard about how to remove the cuffs.

He could try vibrating out of them…

It had never worked before…but maybe today was the day. Uncle Barry had taught him how to do it several times, but it just hadn't worked. Wally had always been too slow. Maybe he could do it now. He'd gotten faster before, right? And before he'd been kidnapped, Jay had insisted that being slower than everyone was all in his head. That had proven to be true. Wally had run faster when he thought about Dick.

Or rather…how he felt when he thought about Dick. What if it wasn't just thinking about things that made him happy? Dick certainly lifted his spirits every time, but it was more than that. Dick made Wally feel confident and smart and more like _himself_ than he did when he was with anyone else. He made Wally feel important and loved and got his heart racing twenty miles a second.

If he thought about those feelings, he might have a chance.

Wally took a deep breath and found an inexplicable smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He sucked in another breath of air and started vibrating his whole body.

His father was wrong. Wally wasn't useless. Wally couldn't give a flying fuck what his dad thought about him – because his dad wasn't important. His opinions didn't count for anything, and Wally didn't need his approval – didn't want it, didn't care about it. He didn't need his dad to love him. Wally was stronger than that.

His vibrations got faster and faster.

His mother had made him strong. Every punch and every broken bone had been for _her_ , because she'd always loved him more than anything. _She'd_ been proud of him, and that had always been enough, even when he hadn't realized it himself.

Wally pulled his wrists apart, and the zip tie phased right through his skin and bone.

He stumbled back in surprise, and his back hit the glass right behind him. The zip tie hit the floor with a soft thump, and Wally stared at his freed hands in blank surprise, then down at the empty handcuffs lying innocently at his feet.

Holy shit… It _worked_ …

Wally started vibrating his molecules again and shifted his weight to one foot for balance. He waited until the vibrations were at the correct frequency, and then he pulled his feet apart. He could feel the zip tie passing through his ankle, and then it was gone. He stood with his feet spaced apart and a wide grin stretched across his face.

A sudden wave of triumph bubbled up in his chest, and he'd just opened his mouth to laugh when both zip ties crumbled apart on their own and dissolved into nothing. Wally shut his mouth abruptly and stared down at the floor where the zip ties had been, frowning in confusion. That was…odd. He didn't remember anything like that happening when Uncle Barry phased through something. Wally waited a few seconds to make sure nothing else was going to happen before daring to move.

He walked forward to the other side of the cell and stared out at the darkened warehouse beyond the glass walls. His eyes traveled over to the roll down door that he'd seen snowy tracks leading out from, and he felt his heartbeat race into overdrive as adrenaline started pumping into his veins. He could feel any lingering injury healing itself completely and unbridled power surging through his muscles.

Wally placed both hands on the glass and positioned himself like he was about to try and push the wall away. He braced his feet against the floor and flexed the muscles in his legs in preparation. His body started humming as he began vibrating again. He inhaled slowly and held it, staring at the glass in fixed determination. It was quite a bit thicker than the plastic zip ties, but he could do it. He _had_ to. Wally was done playing the victim. He didn't belong in a cage, and he wasn't _anyone's_ prisoner.

And he sure as hell wasn't waiting around to be rescued.

Wally exhaled and shoved against the glass as hard as he could.


	18. Chapter 18

[Undisclosed Location

Unknown Date, Unknown Time]

It felt nothing like trying to vibrate through the thin zip ties. The glass was at least five inches thick, and trying to phase through it was more like trying to impale himself on a wall made of a billion needles. But it didn't hurt anywhere near as badly as when Professor Zoom had vibrated a hand into his chest.

Wally watched as his hands slid through the glass and came out undamaged on the other side. He pushed more, and his arms went through to his elbow, and then he was pressing his face and torso right into the glass. It wasn't solid anymore, and Wally could feel the molecules of the glass passing between his own as his head and shoulders pushed free. Gritting his teeth and deciding not to prolong it any more than he had to, he stepped the rest of the way out of the cell and hit the ground on the other side on his hands and knees.

He stayed there for a few seconds, shaking off the pain and gasping for air. He rushed to take stock of the injuries…and found nothing. All four limbs, all fingers and toes seemed to be accounted for. He wasn't coughing up blood. He seemed okay.

Wally slowly got to his feet and pressed one hand to his chest, feeling his heartbeat. He gave a relieved laugh and turned around to look at the cell he'd been trapped in.

The glass rippled dangerously, and Wally had a split second to move out of the way before it exploded in a deafening crash. He zipped around a tall stack of crates as shards of shattered, glass shrapnel pelted the warehouse in all directions. Wally waited until it was over, and all he could hear was a faint tinkling sound of glass tumbling along the ground. He cautiously peeked around the boxes at the cell.

"Holy _crap_ …" he breathed, straightening up and stumbling back towards the cell. It was completely destroyed. The only parts of it that remained were the metal top and bottom cylinders. A few slivers of the cell walls still clung to the top, but the surrounding area was absolutely littered with powdered and pulverized glass bits.

Okay, yeah, that had definitely never happened before. What the hell had he done to make it explode?! Wally stood rooted to the spot, still frozen in shock. Another sliver of glass dropped loose from the cell and shattered once it hit the floor. The sound shook Wally from his stupor, and he jolted back. Zoom or one of the three speedsters could literally come sprinting in _any_ second. What if they had sensors on that cell or something that just tipped them off that he'd escaped?

Wally zipped straight to the roll down door and looked all the way up to where the door's tracks curved up along the ceiling. He looked around and spotted a large red button welded to the side of the door. He pressed it without a second thought, and the whole door jolted with a loud metallic clang before slowly lifting up along the tracks.

Wally ducked down and peeked underneath the door before it had even risen two feet off the ground. There was another, longer room beyond the partition full of parked convoy vehicles and a driving strip that led to another lift up door with windows.

Actual windows.

He was so close.

Wally slid under the door and sprinted the whole length of the driving strip. The room was completely empty of Manhunter personnel, so Wally paused for a second to press one hand against the small rectangular window. He could see blue sky and snow. Lots and lots of snow. The cold from the glass shot up into Wally's arm, and he had to back away from the door. Okay, so he'd be freezing, but the heat he generated from using his powers would protect him from hypothermia. And at the speed he felt like he was capable of right now, he'd be free of the harsh weather in minutes.

God, and then he'd be home. Wally couldn't wait to zip straight into Central City and – well, no. He'd have to go to a zeta location and beam up to the Watchtower, because Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris were still living up there. Okay, so he'd get up to the Watchtower and then hug his aunt and uncle until…

Until the Manhunters came and murdered them.

Wally's giddiness vanished instantly. He took a few startled steps away from the door separating him from his freedom and frowned at the floor. Even if he escaped today, it wouldn't change a single thing. Velocity was still completed and about to be released, and the Manhunter army was still going to destroy everything Wally held dear.

He couldn't run away. He couldn't let any of that happen. Wally refused to let his blood be used to kill countless people. He wouldn't be truly free until any and all traces of Velocity 9 were eliminated. Wally's mind started pulling together a plan – and while he was here, he might as well do something about all those thousands of Manhunters just standing around waiting to be deployed. When was anyone ever going to get this close to a Manhunter base again and be tossed this kind of opportunity?

A dark smile found its way onto Wally's face, and he turned his back on the door to the outside world. It wasn't time to escape just yet. But, first thing was first. Wally needed to know where the hell he _was_ , and he needed to find a way to contact the Justice League. He spotted a lone corner office against the wall closest to the room where his wrecked cell was and zipped through the open door, tearing the tiny room apart at super speed until he found what he wanted.

One of the drawers had contained a folded up map, which Wally promptly spread out on the cluttered desk. He scanned over the detailed drawings and stabbed a finger on one of the dots that was circled. Base 226. That's where he was – smack dab in the middle of Siberia. He saw other dots as he looked over the rest of the world map, located on every continent and labeled with the same kind of numbers. They were probably other Manhunter bases.

Wally memorized his position on the map and figured up his escape route before folding it up again to cram it into the pocket of his pants. The Justice League would probably find it very interesting when he got back. He started looking around the office again and found a compact, hand-held radio. Turning it on briefly to make sure it was charged, Wally jammed it into the same pocket as the map and zipped back out of the office. He'd need to rewire it later for his own use, but it seemed capable of reaching one of his allies.

Alright, now for the hard part. Wally needed to somehow destroy two hundred thousand Manhunters, Professor Zoom and his mad scientist lab, three other speedsters, and an entire base of Manhunter acolytes – all before they caught on that he was running around free.

He took a deep breath and zipped into the room that he'd been held in the last few days. When he came through the doorway, two tall white and blue clad men were standing in front of his cell. Wally stopped dead and grabbed the door frame with one hand, flinging himself back into the garage. He pressed his back against the wall and covered his mouth with one hand to smother the sound of his breathing. _Crap_. He hadn't expected a fight right off the bat. Maybe he could sneak past them.

Wally peered around the corner cautiously. Both speedsters were still there, just staring at the shattered cell with their arms hanging at their sides like they couldn't comprehend what they were looking at. Wally would've bet anything that they were V9 addicts – probably some of Professor Zoom's first test subjects that got a dose that went horribly wrong. He almost felt sorry for them.

But, they'd electrocuted the hell out of him and Wally wasn't in a particularly forgiving mood right now.

What had Zoom called them? Gregor and Boleslaw?

They'd been too fast for Jay and Max to handle though, so he didn't know how _he_ was supposed to…

Wally's eyes narrowed at the speedsters' backs angrily. These two had killed Max and Jay. He stepped further back into the garage and snatched a set of keys from the hook beside his head, silently creeping to the nearest covered truck. He spotted a heavy lead pipe propped up against a wall along the way and hefted it over his shoulder in one smooth motion.

Wally ripped open the truck's driver side door and started the engine, which roared to life immediately. He zipped back to the doorway and hung just out of sight, cupping a hand around his mouth, " _Hey, Cole slaw!"_

The air rippled unsteadily as Wally heard both speedsters take off in the adjacent room. He gripped the pipe firmly like a baseball bat, timed it perfectly, and swung it as hard as he could using every ounce of his speed. What happened next reminded Wally very vividly of a bullet train crashing into a car. One speedster blew right past him to investigate the truck while the other caught the pipe full in the face.

Wally felt the impact all the way in his shoulders and watched as the speedster's head caved in around the pipe, which bent as well from the force of the blow. Boleslaw's feet went out from under him, and he hit the ground flat on his back as the crack of metal hitting bone echoed around the room. Wally quickly regained his balance and looked down at the immobilized speedster. He crouched down and tapped the crooked pipe against his shoulder idly, nodding with satisfaction as he scrutinized his handiwork.

He was out cold, if not in a coma, and wouldn't be getting up any time soon. Wally stood and deftly twirled the pipe in one hand, shooting a grin over at Gregor, who was watching him from beside the truck's cab. Wally laughed and brought the pipe up to eye level to examine the damage to it, tossing Gregor a wink, "Home run!"

Gregor let out a great cry of rage and lunged at him. Wally ducked out of the way in a roll, and Gregor's fist slammed into the wall instead. Wally used his momentum to swing back around and crack Gregor across the back with the pipe before tossing it aside completely, "Don't get mad! I couldn't think of anything witty to make fun of your name with, I'm sorry. Look, I'll make up for it by handing you your own teeth one by one. How's that sound?"

Gregor spun around and took a swipe at him at superspeed. Wally dropped into a crouch just as quickly and delivered a flurry of punches to his solar plexus. Gregor fell back onto his side and kicked a foot out to sweep Wally's legs out from under him. Wally flipped over the attack and landed on his hands, using his arms to spring back upright. This was _too_ easy. Gregor was much slower than before – or at least it seemed that way. Wally was keeping pace with him effortlessly. On top of that, Gregor appeared to have the martial skill of a sandwich.

He darted back in at Gregor, blocking a sloppy but strong punch with his forearm and grabbing his wrist. He twisted it behind Gregor's back in a blur of motion and drove him to the ground. Gregor caught Wally in the side with a jab of his elbow and threw him off. He rolled on top of Wally and pressed an arm into his throat. Wally gasped in surprise and punched Gregor right in the eye. The arm just pressed down harder on his trachea.

Wally grabbed the arm Gregor was using to support himself and slammed the heel of his palm into the elbow, forcing it to bend the opposite direction. Gregor didn't seem to react to the pain at all, but the jolt was enough to loosen the hold he had on Wally's neck. Wally worked one leg up to his chest and kicked Gregor off him with a grunt. He rolled over and scrambled to his feet, rubbing tenderly at his throat as he put some distance between himself and Gregor.

Okay, so maybe he was a little better than Wally had originally thought. He really couldn't afford to waste the time fighting him. Wally smiled suddenly as an idea struck him, and he ran straight for the convoy truck with Gregor hot on his heels. Instead of slowing down, Wally aimed for the engine and started vibrating. He sank his whole arm right into the side of the truck above the front wheel and scrambled as much as he could before rolling under the carriage and taking shelter beneath the truck parked next to it. Wally covered his head and the back of his neck with his hands, curling up into a ball right as the truck exploded with a fiery boom.

Above him, Wally could hear huge pieces of metal showering the truck he was under and the loud rush of fire consuming the tarp-covered back of the vehicle. He pulled himself out to the safe side of the truck and stood upright to watch the blaze.

Alright, well, at least it wasn't a fluke. Wally inspected his arms with a sigh and looked at the twisted and rent cab of the truck. So…vibrating through things caused them to explode. He tossed the idea around in his head for a split second and found himself nodding approvingly. Wally could make things explode now. He could roll with that...

He darted around the burning truck and the larger pieces of debris surrounding it to see what had happened to Gregor. The other speedster was pinned beneath one of the truck's heavy doors that had been blown off in the blast. Parts of his suit were charred or torn away completely, and blood was oozing out of several places where jagged bits of shrapnel had dug into his body. Wally hung back for a second and determined that Gregor was unconscious. Then, he gripped the frame of the door with both hands and hefted it off him. The door crashed to the ground, and Wally moved in to check Gregor's pulse.

It was there and steady, but a little slow for a speedster. Too slow. That was…weird, but he didn't have time to worry about it. Wally abandoned both knocked out speedsters and sprinted back into the warehouse. Excitement and adrenaline rushed through him as he ran, and Wally couldn't help laughing. He'd spent so long feeling weak and useless that power like this was intoxicating. Oh, and he planned on using it well…

Wally blew through the doors to the rest of the compound and easily navigated along the hallways, recalling his mental map from before. For once, he was glad that they'd taken his costume because it would've made him stick out like a sore thumb while he was trying to sneak through the base. As it was, Wally had next to no trouble as he searched the rooms at blinding speed. The good thing about being trapped in a Manhunter base with four other speedsters and countless test subjects trying out a superspeed drug was that none of the acolytes even flinched when he rocketed by them without any explanation. They probably just saw him as another V9 junkie, and since Boleslaw and Gregor hadn't had the time to raise an alarm, they had no reason to suspect otherwise. He just had to pray that he didn't run into Zoom. Wally wasn't quite ready for _that_ fight just yet.

He searched every level of the compound for almost five minutes until he finally found the cavernous hangar that housed the idle Manhunter battalions and spacecraft. When he came zooming onto the ground floor, he saw several dozen acolytes moving around between the various ships and stations. Wally ducked behind a bulky repair terminal and looked around for something to hide his face with. No one had really seemed to know _who_ he was the other day – he guessed that what Zoom had been doing to him was 'need to know' – but they'd definitely recognize him as the boy Zoom had tortured half to death. At least one of the acolytes would question why he was walking free, and Wally wouldn't be able to use superspeed very much in here.

Not for what he had planned.

Wally spotted a welding station close by and quickly crept over to it. He lifted a welder's mask from the high-tech workbench and fixed it over his face. Next, he pulled on a pair of thick leather gloves that went up to his elbows and slipped a protective, fireproof full apron that went down to his shins over his head and tied it around his waist. He picked up a bulky panel for one of the ships with minor difficulty – man, he really missed his old muscle tone – and stepped out into the middle of the hangar with his heartbeat racing nervously in his chest.

Okay, calm down. Look like you belong, and no one will even pay you any attention. There were a few acolytes walking around out of the red and blue uniform, so that made him feel a little less conspicuous, but he'd never get by intense scrutiny. For one thing, he still had dried blood all over his neck and clothes. The black material of his shirt masked the stains well enough, but they weren't completely gone. He just hoped the long welder's mask would cover most of his neck.

Wally tried to walk with purpose and look casual at the same time like he did this every day. He passed by another work table covered with C4, blasting caps, several lengths of wire, antennae, and various other bits of explosives. Before anyone could even blink, Wally had stuffed a handful of everything into the apron's pockets. He skirted a little too close to one of the Manhunter acolytes and lifted the walkie-talkie from his belt, concealing it in the side pockets of his pants. Another table held a closed, military-grade laptop, which he promptly swiped as well, swinging the strap over his shoulder.

He managed to keep his composure as he made his way over to the nearest ship. No one was working on it, so Wally was able to circle around to the back, which was mostly shielded from the rest of the hangar. He looked up at the rear loading hatch and then down at a simple control panel off to the side. Wally peered at the faceplate through the narrow slit in his mask. Okay, great. How did he get into this thing? At least it didn't need an access card or anything. It looked like a key code lock, which was…surprisingly low security for Manhunters.

He glanced around carefully and lifted the mask for a second to examine the number pad. The screen looked like it had enough room for five numbers, and only three buttons on the number pad were worn down any. Three, six, and two – so it had to be some combination of those three. Wally used his powers and tried every possibly arrangement within sixty seconds.

The door finally accepted one of the combinations and opened down into a ramp with a hiss. Wally memorized the number that had worked, and quickly climbed up into the ship, shutting the hatch behind him. Immediately, the ship's interior lit up, revealing an open center, two pilot's seats, and about a hundred ports on either side for Manhunters. He zipped over to the flight controls and whistled softly. This ship was _advanced_. Hal would be drooling if he could get his hands on it. He was a test pilot at his day job, and he was always getting into trouble for tinkering with the JLA's Javelins.

Hal had actually offered to teach Wally how to fly a jet, but Uncle Barry had flat out refused to let him – something about Hal being notoriously reckless and crashing planes because he'd try daring maneuvers that the machines just couldn't handle. It had neither surprised nor scared Wally off. So, the last time Wally had needed to stay with Hal in Coast City while Uncle Barry handled some disaster on the other side of the world, Hal went ahead and gave him a flying lesson anyway.

It had been cool but not even a tenth as thrilling as superspeed. Although, Wally had learned a lot from it – like how the fuel cells were always located in the wings of most planes and at the back of most spacecraft. He zipped back towards the rear hatch again and looked around the floor for any kind of seam, or hidden compartment, or…

_There._

Wally hooked his fingers underneath a thin handle and pulled up an entire hidden panel of the flooring, revealing a tangled mess of circuitry, wires, and thick hoses. Beneath it all, he could see the far edges of the nuclear fuel cells. He grinned and slung the laptop onto the ground beside him, starting it up and emptying his pockets so he could take stock of what he had to work with.

A long time ago, while fanboying over some of Roy and Oliver's heavy explosive trick arrows, Oliver had shown him how to create a bomb. It had been a terrible decision, but in Oliver's defense, he probably hadn't thought an eleven-year-old could make sense of what he was doing, remember it, and later do some research of his own to teach himself how to convert almost anything into one.

Wally disassembled the walkie-talkie and pried off the bottom of the laptop to expose its insides. _Dick_ had taught him how to hack, create code, and most importantly how to build a remote detonator. Within the span of four minutes, Wally had his C4 and blasting caps fixed on the fuel cells, wired to the laptop – which he'd jerry-rigged into a transmitter, and was just carefully sliding the unrecognizable walkie-talkie – now wireless detonator – into his pocket. He stood upright, idly tossing the remaining C4 up and down in one hand while he thought about what to do with it.

He had a pretty good idea.

Wally stuffed the remaining supplies back in his pockets and pulled the mask down over his face. He snuck back out of the spacecraft and calmly made his way across the busy hangar and back to the exit he'd come in through. No one stopped him, but a few nodded at him in greeting. Wally was too jittery to risk nodding back and accidentally spasming or something equally dumb. He just kept walking and ducked into a shadowy corner to ditch his disguise the second he was out of sight.

He took off again, now being significantly more careful as he traversed the halls in case Professor Zoom knew that he'd escaped from his cell and was on the hunt for him. Normal humans could never be able to tell what Wally was as he zipped by, but Zoom's hyper-accelerated perceptions would have no trouble following his movements.

He sped through the grid-like maze and quickly found himself at the hallway that led to the laboratory where Zoom had shown him Velocity suddenly reeled back and jerked to a stop right before he reached the corner. Dammit. There were two Manhunters guarding the door to the lab; he'd forgotten about them. Well, there was no way he was going to be able to sneak by them, and he was _not_ abandoning his mission. He was going to have to fight them both, but maybe not at the same time if he was smart about it. If he could destroy one immediately, then he'd be able to do it. He'd sat in on Kilowog's training; he knew how to fight them.

Wally sped around the corner before he could chicken out, already vibrating at the perfect frequency. He targeted the towering Manhunter on the left side of the door and hit him at a running jump. Heart pounding and his entire body shaking like mad, Wally latched onto the Manhunter's shoulder with one hand and vibrated the other right into its torso, hooking his arm upwards. He seemed to be getting better at this, because it felt less and less like sticking his hand into a box of knives each time. Wally didn't know exactly _where_ the core was, so he just waved his hand around frantically in an upwards motion as long as he dared before bracing himself and launching away from the doomed android.

Or, he tried to. An energy blast caught him in the ribs and slammed him into the wall instead. Wally got the wind violently knocked out of him and hit the ground on his back not two feet from the Manhunter about to go critical.

Oh crap! No no no no no no no no!

Wally rolled backwards right onto his feet and made it four steps in the opposite direction before having to dodge another blast from the second Manhunter. He looked over his shoulder and saw the one he'd attacked power down and combust from the inside out. Wally raced the explosion around the corner but caught a long piece of shrapnel right in the thigh. He cried out in pain and lunged to safety at the last second, his leg giving out and sending him to the ground again. Wally clutched his bleeding leg and dragged himself away with one arm.

He couldn't believe he'd been so careless! With his leg injured, he was as good as dead when the second Manhunter came around the corner looking for him. Wally shifted onto his back and lifted up the leg to inspect it. A four inch long sliver as thick as his finger was sticking out of the skin right above his knee. He knew that you weren't supposed to remove objects from stab wounds, otherwise you risk increasing the blood flow, but Wally didn't have a choice. He'd never be able to defend himself with it still in there, and if he left it in, it might get pushed in deeper and sever something vital.

Wally made a choice and ripped the shrapnel out of his leg with a silent cry. Only about two inches of the sliver had gone into his leg, but the wound immediately started steadily oozing blood. Wally had just torn off his right sleeve to use as a makeshift tourniquet when he felt an odd tingling sensation at the wound. He set down the strip of cloth and curiously pulled apart the tear in his pant leg to look at the gash.

It was almost too bloody for him to tell what he was looking at, but as Wally felt the pain begin to subside, he realized that the wound was _closing_. Completely dumbfounded, Wally was still sitting there on the floor holding his leg when a Manhunter with half its face and right side severely scraped off came around the corner and fixed its eerie, green eye sockets on him. It lifted its energy baton and leveled it right at Wally.

He dove out of the way to avoid a volley of energy blasts and ran around the Manhunter at normal speed, finding that his leg was already able to support his weight. He ran for the lab doors and started frantically searching through the Manhunter pieces for a weapon. Hopefully, the explosion hadn't destroyed the baton thingy. His leg was still tingling like mad, but Wally was too afraid to check it again. The Manhunter's loud, stomping footsteps echoed around the corner right as Wally moved a huge chunk of robot leg with circuits sticking out of it and found an energy pistol. He snatched it up and whirled around on one knee, firing at the android as it came running into view. Wally aimed for center mass and just kept squeezing the trigger over and over, fighting to control the discharge's kickback and trying to buy as much time as he could for his leg to heal.

When he dared to pause in his frantic barrage, he found that he'd way more than over-killed the Manhunter. It was still standing, but its whole head had been melted off, and about ninety percent of the thick chest plate was sloughing off in red hot molten globs. The core was still intact and glowing bright green. Wally raised the pistol and fired at the core again until he heard the Manhunter fall over.

He craned his neck to try and see if it was moving and only discarded the pistol when he saw the steam rising from the heap of scrap metal. A half-hysterical laugh tore from Wally's throat, and he shakily got to his feet, surveying the damage he'd wrought.

He'd killed two Manhunters – single-handedly – and taken down two mutant speedsters before that. Wally pulled apart the hole in his pants again and ran a thumb along the spot where the stab wound had been. It was a little tender but completely closed up. He stared at it in awe for a few more seconds before remembering what he was doing. Wally rushed to the emergency lever locked up beside the doors and broke the glass encasing it. He pulled the alarm and heard panic sirens start going off all throughout the base. Red lights started flashing over all the doors, and Wally quickly pressed himself to one wall to stay out of sight as the doors to the lab opened suddenly to let out all the acolytes and technicians.

Wally waited until they all stopped panicking at the sight of the demolished Manhunter pair and cleared off before snagging the slowly closing door and slipping inside. He may have signed his own death warrant just now triggering that alarm, because _now_ someone would know he was out of his cell, but the bomb he'd made was going to take out the entire base. And, evil as they were, Wally wouldn't kill all the humans inside. He needed them to evacuate and fast.

And while they were all running for their lives…

Wally was going to eliminate any and all traces of Velocity 9. He would _not_ allow Zoom and Savage to use him like that. He sped over to the tanks full of V9 and wired smaller charges of plastic explosives. He connected the blasting caps, wired it all together, and blew the tanks. They shattered with a thunderous crash and flooded the room with rapidly evaporating V9. Wally darted to the work stations and dragged his vibrating arms through every single beaker, book, countertop, computer, and machine in sight.

When he'd completely destroyed the room, Wally turned to the section in the corner that was closed off with two glass walls. He ignored the protective suits hanging on the wall beside it and kicked the glass in. There was a sterile work table against one wall, a sink, a wide refrigerator looking thing against the other, and a rack of carefully organized and labeled chemicals. Wally zipped to the shelves and scanned the bottles for anything he recognized, but it was all in Russian. He made a mental note to learn Russian if he ever got out of here.

 _When_ he got out.

Wally went to the cooler next and pulled open the door. Every shelf in the fridge had hermetically sealed containers and vials stored inside, and each shelf seemed to be dedicated to a version of Velocity from the prototype down to the newly finished V9. And right there at the bottom shelf, labeled like everything else, was the very last sample of his blood. Wally bent down in a daze and closed his fingers around the little tube. He held it up to his eyes, tilting it and watching the dark liquid rush from end to end in detached fascination. _This_ simple thing had caused so much trouble. He clutched the vial to his chest and looked around at the room, imagining the rest of the Manhunter base he was stuck in the middle of. This whole Manhunter plot had destroyed his family.

His fingers clenched the vial convulsively, and he looked over at the sink sitting innocently beside the fridge. Wally's body seemed to operate on its own as he moved to the sink, grabbed the vial with both hands, and broke it in half over the drain. He calmly dropped both pieces of broken glass into the basin and turned on the faucet. Wally didn't stick around to watch his own blood trickle down the drain. Instead, he went back to the open fridge and grabbed as many containers and glass vials as he could carry, and then he broke every single one of them open over the sink. He was just emptying the very last shelf housing V9 when he felt the air behind him ripple – the telltale herald of an approaching speedster.

Wally's gut clenched in abrupt fear, and his mind whirled through the possibilities as he turned around. Professor Zoom or the redheaded woman, Christina. Or had Boleslaw and Gregor woken up and come after him?

He looked over his shoulder, one hand still poised to drop the last vial into the sink, and saw a yellow and red blur dart into the lab.

Zoom.

God, of course it was him.

Professor Zoom came to a stop in the middle of the lab, a look of absolute horror on his face. He looked all around in open-mouthed shock at the demolished equipment and the pulverized glass strewn about the floor where the tanks of Velocity 9 had been. Wally just stared at him, frozen in place and waiting to be noticed. Mismatched blue eyes traveled over to the smashed partition, the open refrigerator, and then they fixed themselves right on Wally's face.

Wally just shrugged and dropped the very last sample of V9 into the sink, giving Zoom what he hoped was a cocky, sarcastic expression that said 'Whoops'. The vial hit the titanium and broke open with a loud crack. Zoom lunged forward with a deep bellow of rage the second he realized what Wally had done.

There was no doubt in Wally's mind that Zoom would kill him if he got close enough. So, when Zoom dove through the hole in the glass after him, Wally darted to the side and vibrated through the other glass wall, sprinting for the exit. He was out the door and past the dismantled Manhunters when he heard the glass wall explode and Zoom's roar as he gave chase. Wally ran through the halls as fast as his legs could carry him, trying to weave through as many turns and doors as he could in an effort to lose Zoom. He blew through another door and spotted an elevator at the end of the hall. It was the only one on this side of the level that would take him up to the top floors where both his cell and the only route to his freedom were.

He hit the elevator doors and jammed his fingers into the crack between them, prying them apart with a strained grunt of effort. They budged just enough for him to slip through, and Wally swung into the empty elevator shaft, clinging to the metal framework. Zoom ran through the gap in the doors a split second after Wally, his momentum slamming him into the opposite side of the chasm. Wally didn't wait to see how close Zoom was. He started climbing up the framework as fast as he could, only glancing down once to see that the elevator car was far below them.

Zoom was snarling up at him, scaling the beams as well. Wally kicked it up a little. He pulled the detonator from his pocket and held onto the support beam he was gripping with both arms and legs, dialing the code he'd programmed in.

It took a second, in which time Wally began to worry that his plan was about to go horribly wrong, but then he heard a deafening, not too distant boom, and the entire elevator shaft shook violently as the whole base felt the shocks from the explosion. Wally almost lost his grip as his side of the framework actually pulled away from the wall. Several stories below them, the elevator doors to the bottom few levels blew inwards, and Wally could see the distant glow of fire reflecting off the metal beams all around him.

Professor Zoom lost his grip completely and fell about two stories before catching himself and staring down at the fire below in bewildered shock. Wally didn't waste any time and quickly put eight more levels between them. He reached the top of the elevator shaft and shifted onto the narrow ledge, prying open the doors to the surface level and squeezing through them before Zoom caught up to him again.

He made it down two hallways before something snagged his arm and violently hurled him sideways into the wall. Wally bounced off and hit the floor hard, rolling aside on pure instinct. Zoom's fist rocketed into the tiles where his head had been moments before, and Wally scrambled to his feet. Zoom swiped at him with one hand, fingers just brushing the back of Wally's shirt, and gave a great scream of rage that curdled the blood in Wally's veins. He heard Zoom chasing after him once again and frantically started vibrating his arms to the correct frequency.

Wally veered closer to the wall and plunged his fist right into it, dragging his arm through the concrete as he ran with Zoom hot on his heels. This time, he was too scared to focus properly, and he could feel his molecules scraping through the concrete; it felt like his skin was being sheared off. He grit his teeth and kept running, exciting the molecules in the wall and creating an unstable resonance before pulling his arm back out and putting on an extra burst of speed to get clear of the blast radius.

An instant later, the whole hallway blew apart.

Wally looked over his shoulder and saw a massive chunk of concrete slam right into Zoom's shoulder, knocking him off his feet and sending him to the floor with a cry of agony. Wally turned his head back to look forward and kept on running, listening to the sounds of Zoom being buried alive. He veered down another hallway and didn't stop once or dare to look back as the detonation he'd set off on the bottom floor started a chain reaction. He'd been counting on the blast to spread because of the close grouping of the spaceship fleet, and it looked like he hadn't been disappointed.

The whole structure trembled unsteadily, and Wally flat out sprinted the rest of the way to the warehouse where he'd been kept. Well, he'd run into everyone so far. All that was left was his father, although Wally almost wished he _did_ find his dad blocking his path. He blew right past his destroyed cell, sending glass shards flying in his wake, and ran right into the garage, which was still burning. The office and all of the vehicles on the side closest to the warehouse were in flames, but Wally paid it no heed. He was focused on the garage door.

It had been rolled up, allowing a freezing cold draft into the garage.

Wally paused suddenly, eyes glued to the white, open expanse of snowy plains at the end of the driving strip. He hadn't lifted open the door earlier; someone else had to have done it. He turned around and saw that both Gregor and Boleslaw's unconscious bodies were gone.

Another explosion from deep beneath him rocked the base again, and Wally looked around the room in paranoia, expecting an attack. He zipped out of the open door, every cell in his body on high alert and practically humming with nervous tension. The second his foot crunched into the snow though, Wally found himself slowing down and coming to a stop entirely. He stood in the middle of what looked like endless tundra, icy wind cutting right through his clothes and freezing the sweat clinging to his skin. Wally looked out at the blinding snow in wide-eyed disbelief, arms falling to his sides and shoulders drooping tiredly.

Wally lifted his face to the frigid air and closed his eyes as the chill seeped into his bones. It was cold – not arctic temperatures, but more like the Midwest in December – and Wally hardly noticed it. He took in a deep breath of air through his nose and exhaled slowly.

He was free. Wally let out a short laugh and looked up at the sun, shielding his eyes with the arm that he'd ripped the sleeve off of. It was a few hours away from the middle of the sky, which meant that – Wally pointed at the sun – _that_ was east. He put the Manhunter base at his back and faced east instead, pulling out the radio he'd swiped earlier. He quickly took it apart and re-calibrated it to the Justice League's frequencies before putting it back together again. The signal would never be able to reach the Watchtower, but hopefully it would find a communicator to one of the heroes planetside. Wally knew his best bet was California. If he ran southeast across the Pacific, he'd hit California first and hopefully get close enough to contact Coast or Star City. Then, he'd –

A shrill, animalistic scream of pure, shuddering fury jolted Wally from his thoughts. He almost dropped the radio and fumbled to catch it before it hit the ground.

Wally clutched the radio to his chest and turned in a circle, dropping into a defensive crouch and frantically scanning the area for the source of the noise. His eyes immediately landed on a shock of long, wild red hair, and he was suddenly looking right at Christina.

She was in her white and blue uniform, which was why he'd missed her before, and was kneeling down beside two other bodies. All three were perfectly camouflaged amongst the snow. The two bodies were Gregor and Boleslaw; Christina must've found them in the garage and carried them out here to safety. She was pulling the shrapnel out of Gregor's chest and binding his wounds with strips of fabric from her own costume, glaring at Wally with angry tears streaming down her face. She rose to her feet slowly, fists clenched and mouth twisted into a feral grimace.

Wally bolted.

He'd completely forgotten about her. Christina abandoned her companions and chased after him, shrieking wildly. Wally raced across the uneven tundra, heart thudding in his chest from panic. He heard the top floor of the base explode behind him, but five seconds later, it wasn't even in the horizon anymore. Wally drew from whatever energy he could muster and pushed himself faster than ever before, leaving behind a sonic boom as he broke the sound barrier. He kept running faster and faster, frantically looking over his shoulder and seeing Christina not fifty feet away. She was still snarling furiously, running him down single-mindedly.

Wally almost turned back around to look forwards, but something caught his eye, and he did a double take back at Christina. She was glowing like her skin was lighting up from the inside. Her head and both arms where she'd ripped the sleeves off her costume were getting brighter and brighter. Wally watched in silent horror as her whole body started to burn. Christina's war cries turned into screams of pain, and she tripped, skidding and tumbling along the ground with her momentum before she burst into flames completely.

Her body fell out of sight as Wally left her behind. He fought down his paralyzing fear and confusion, not risking compromising his lead even a few meters to correct his course until he hit the ocean.


	19. Chapter 19

[Star City

March 25, 11:00 EST]

Oliver was the _last_ person who should've ever been responsible for a child. He barely had his own act together, and he was in possession of the very worst set of decision-making skills possible. Oliver usually _did_ first and then _thought_ later, which had landed him into more trouble than he cared to admit. He'd been a little better lately since he'd been with Dinah. She was younger than him, but easily twice as smart and had enough sense for the both of them. Being with her made him a better man.

That wasn't to say though that he didn't make colossal mistakes every now and then. There were a few he didn't regret – like taking in Roy.

Oliver had only been twenty-seven at the time and hadn't given as much as a second thought to being a father. It was actually the worst thing he could imagine at the time: the responsibility, the lifelong commitment, and the irrational fear of getting that close to such a fragile, accident prone little life. He remembered that he'd felt that way for _years,_ and he'd been so set in his decision that none of his past girlfriends had been able to change his mind. Ever. Not even a little.

But none of that had mattered when he'd gone as Green Arrow to judge an archery contest on the Navajo Reservation and laid eyes on twelve-year-old Roy beating the pants off of men three and four times his age. Something about that stubborn, angry little ginger kid had gotten to Oliver. He'd been impressed by his spirit, especially after hearing about his past from Brave Bow, and had taken Roy in without any hesitation.

Terrible idea.

Oliver had bumbled his way through the first few years of fatherhood, making almost _every_ major screw up along the way until he got the hang of it. How Child Services had ever cleared him to be a guardian was a mystery. Poor Roy had definitely gotten the raw end of that deal. For one thing, Roy and Oliver's personalities clashed constantly – if they weren't fighting, then they weren't talking – but they'd managed to figure it out together and become a family. Oliver was undeniably proud of his adopted son, and he liked to think he'd raised him decently, despite their most recent falling out.

Roy was headstrong, stubborn, and independent. He made his own rules, and he was smart – but just as prone to the occasional stupid decision-making and reckless tendencies as Oliver was. Regardless, Oliver _knew_ that he'd taught Roy the basics pretty well and made it clear that they were non-negotiable: No drugs, No dying, Stay in school, and Don't _ever_ get involved with a supervillain.

It was common sense, for Christ's sake! Oliver slumped down in his computer chair and covered his face with both hands.

Cheshire.

He groaned and rubbed at his eyes unhappily. No one else in the League had questioned how Roy had miraculously turned up with such a groundbreaking lead out of the blue like that. They'd all been so relieved to _have_ one that they just took it and immediately started making plans to raid The Network. But Oliver had been suspicious. He'd thought the tip had come from a CI at first. Oliver had several criminal informants around Star City that he called on from time to time, but he made a point to ward Roy away from the practice. There was always a certain level of risk involved, and it made him nervous to think of Roy making those kinds of underground connections.

The truth had been so much worse. Now, Oliver wished it had just been a CI. He'd cornered Roy and forced him to give up where he'd gotten the tip from after he learned the news. Then, he'd flown into a rage over how stupid Roy had been, which had sent _Roy_ into a rage over how Oliver wasn't in control of him anymore, which had only made Oliver angrier, and they'd ended up in a shouting match right in the middle of the Watchtower's corridors. Roy had stalked off to regroup with the visiting Green Lanterns he'd been assigned to, and Dinah had sent Oliver to Star City for his scheduled downtime like she was sending a child to their room for being bad.

That had been seven hours ago. It was only an hour till noon, and Oliver really needed a drink. He wasn't a rational enough guy to deal with this sober, but since they were on high alert because of the Manhunters, alcohol was off-limits. It wouldn't really be ideal if he was drunk when they got attacked. So, he'd gone on patrol to relieve some of the stress. It hadn't worked; Oliver had returned hours ago and was just brooding by himself until it was time to report for his shift with his own group of Lanterns.

He was still in full costume sitting in the armory beneath his mansion, feet propped up on a work table and arms folded behind his head as he imagined Roy turning evil. Or becoming an assassin just like Cheshire. Or _marrying_ Cheshire. Oliver glared mournfully up at the ceiling and started planning out an intervention for Roy. He'd have to invite Dinah, of course; Roy wouldn't listen to him if Dinah wasn't there. Dick and Kaldur would probably want to be there. Kaldur was a pretty calming guy; he was good at diffusing Roy's temper. Hal had a good rapport with Roy, as far as Oliver knew. Maybe he should be there.

But then…Hal was on and off again dating a supervillain as well…though he claimed that Carol was reformed for good.

He remembered the last time he'd had to go save Hal when Carol had gone Star Sapphire and tried to kill him. Maybe he should hold an intervention for Hal as well… He definitely wasn't invited to _Roy's_ intervention. Oliver crossed his arms over his chest and idly tapped one foot to a soundless beat as he thought about who else to invite. Well, Wally would be one of his first picks, but…

Oliver sighed miserably. That poor kid. The Team, Barry, and a handful of the League's big guns were in Central and Keystone Cities right now hunting down Blacksmith. If there was any shred of justice left in the world, they'd come back with a way to find Professor Zoom. Oliver wanted to be over there with them, and he knew Roy did as well, but the mission was delicate, and they'd just be in the way. Roy had been out of his mind when his bid to join the mission was denied, but he'd eventually backed off when each team member's function was explained and he realized that there was no room for him in the plan. They would have a better chance of success without him, and he was needed elsewhere.

Oliver wished that _he_ had something useful to be doing right now. Patrol hadn't been very satisfying. He'd spent a few hours showing his face around the city and putting a stop to the looting before it got too bad again. None of his villains were out, so he'd decided to head back and listen in on the Watchtower's radio chatter. His Pretty Bird was on monitor duty, and Oliver heard her identifying global disasters and distress signals and dispatching the appropriate Leaguers to respond. Oliver kept hoping for something stateside to help with, but even the natural disasters seemed to be taking a vacation today. About an hour and a half ago, there'd been a minor tsunami in the Indian Ocean that Aquaman had under control by now. Forty minutes ago, Dinah had reported an avalanche in the Cascades that Oliver wouldn't be able to help with at all. Fifteen minutes ago, there'd been a hostage situation over in Boston that Deadman had been dispatched to diffuse. Ten minutes ago, he'd heard Dinah reporting a major nuclear explosion somewhere in eastern Siberia; Captain Atom had just responded that he was on his way to deal with that one. Three minutes ago, Vixen had requested backup in New York to help deal with Deadshot. Now, _that_ one, Oliver would have been perfect for, but there were many other heroes much closer to NYC than he was.

Why couldn't Deadshot be on the west coast?

Oliver twisted his beard around one finger and scrubbed at the stubble starting to grow on his jaw. He'd been up so long that he could only imagine how scraggly he looked. He pulled at the neckline of his dark green tunic and sniffed lightly. Hmm. He could probably do with a shower now that he thought about it. Oliver threw back his hood and slid his legs onto the floor, accidentally knocking a case of arrows to the ground in the process.

He groaned and knelt down to gather up the spilled arrows, crawling half under the table to reach the ones that had skittered further away.

All of a sudden, the communicator in his ear shrieked to life with a deafening roar of static. Oliver jerked upright, whacking his head on the underside of the table in surprise. He swore loudly and sat back on the floor, rubbing the top of his head with a wince. He yanked the communicator out of his ear and blinked rapidly to try and shake the pain.

What the heck was _that_? It sure as hell wasn't a secure JLA frequency. The communicators were Bat-tech, and the sound quality was usually good enough to hear someone grinding their teeth on the other end. Oliver eyed the tiny speaker nervously, waiting for it to bug out again, but he replaced it in his ear anyway. Moments later, the earpiece was flooded with static again, and this time, Oliver swore he could make out what sounded like someone shouting very faintly in the distance. The words kept fading in and out, but every now and then he'd be able to make one out.

_"…thi….id…..sh…..I need…..lp…"_

Oliver slowly stood upright, frowning and keeping two fingers pressed onto the communicator as he listened intently. If this wasn't a Justice League frequency, then who was trying to get ahold of him? It might not even be him they were trying to contact. The JLA communicators each had two channels: one for general, League wide transmissions and one for specific heroes. It was kind of like having a work phone and personal phone all wrapped up into one.

So, he needed to find out if this person was trying to reach him specifically, or just any League member.

_"-lash! I do….know wh…"_

Oliver decided to try responding. He tried to lock onto the frequency and held down the button to speak, "Can you hear me? Who is this?"

_"-eed HELP! …..ease…."_

The static was starting to get a little better. Oliver held down the button again, this time with more urgency, "Is this a Leaguer? Who are you?"

_"….lash! I'm ru….ing….Pacifi…..n…."_

"You're in the Pacific?" Oliver reached for his quiver and slipped it over his shoulder, trying to stay as quiet as possible.

_"Yes! Who is…."_

"This is Green Arrow. Are you stranded in the ocean? Were you in a shipwreck?" he listened closely. The voice was so distorted that he couldn't even tell if it was male or female.

_"-rrow! A….you in….ar City?!"_

Oliver held down the button again. Whoever he was talking to seemed able to hear _him_ just fine, which meant his communicator was working. It was _their_ equipment that was malfunctioning. "Star City? Yes, I'm here. Who is this?"

_"Ki…sh! I'm…d Fla…sh…"_

His fingers jerked suddenly and slipped off the communicator. Oliver's eyes went wide, and he froze.

_"-sh! Ki…..ash! Can…ear..e?...m….d Flash!...clo..e to Star…ty and…don't know…being followe...or not! Thi….Kid...a…..KID FLA….!"_

Wally…

Oliver snatched up his bow and sprinted for Dinah's sleek blue motorcycle, his heart starting to beat faster and his mind reeling with disbelief. He keyed the microphone in the earpiece and locked it on so he could speak hands free, "Kid Flash?! Is this you? Where are you?"

_"YES! I'm one hu….red…fty miles from….he city! I don't know if…nyone's chasing me!"_

"Wait, you're running?" Oliver started the bike and revved the engine, commanding the ramp to the surface to drop down. He sped up the ramp to the secret tunnel he used to get in and out of his mansion as Green Arrow. "Hold on, Kid, I'm coming! Tell me where you are!"

_"No! I'm coming to you! I'll rea….you faster! Get….zeta tubes rea..y. I don't…hink they can track me…ght now, but I…"_

Oliver turned the bike sideways and skidded to a halt, almost getting thrown off in the process. He put one foot down as a kickstand and sat still in the dark tunnel, looking at the dull orange glow of the road lights he'd installed, "Kid? I lost you there. Are you still okay?"

_"I'm in Star now! Where are you?!"_

He was in the city? Already? But he just said he was at least a hundred miles out a minute ago…

"I'm in the tunnel to the armory. Red Arrow's shown it to you before, remember?"

_"Yeah. I'll be there in a few seconds!"_

Oliver switched channels suddenly for just a second and hailed the Watchtower, "Black Canary, this is Green Arrow! I need you to remote activate the zeta tube in my armory right now! I'm coming topside in a few seconds. Get the medical bay ready!"

 _"GA?"_ he heard Dinah's startled voice ask. _"What's wro-"_

Oliver switched channels. He hated cutting her off like that, but he couldn't risk losing the connection to Wally.

_"-en Arrow?! Hello?! Are you-"_

"I'm here, Kid! I'm here! Just getting the Watchtower ready to bring us up," Oliver said quickly, hearing the kid's terror plainly in his voice. "Are you hurt?"

Wally didn't answer. He didn't have to. An instant later, Oliver heard the rushing whistle of a speedster slicing through the air like a knife, and then a dark figure came barreling down the tunnel right at him. He jumped off the bike and let it tip onto its side when the figure put on the brakes and stumbled off balance to come to a stop. He tripped and collapsed onto the ground in a roll, tumbling right into one of the strips of light and revealing Wally's unmasked face.

Oliver ran to his side and knelt down, flipping him onto his back and frantically checking him over for injuries, "Wally! Are you alright, kid?!"

Wally just lay there bonelessly, eyes shut and chest heaving for air. He wasn't in his Kid Flash uniform. Instead, he was wearing some black pants that were nearly burned away up to his knees and a black shirt with one sleeve torn off and several small holes burned into it all over like it had caught fire. His jawline and neck were slick with sweat and blood. Wally was nearly barefoot. He had the top part of what had to have once been a pair of boots laced around his ankles, and…that was it. The soles and the rest of the shoe were completely missing, and the bottoms of Wally's feet were blistered and bloody like he'd scraped most of the skin off.

Oliver felt along Wally's neck for his pulse and gave a sigh of relief to find that it was absurdly fast – perfectly normal for a speedster. He smoothed the sopping wet red hair from the kid's face and shook him a little, "Hey, stay with me, Wally. I need you to tell me if you're okay. Can you hear me alright?"

Wally nodded silently, swallowing hard and giving an exhausted sort of mumble that Oliver couldn't make out.

"How did you get free? We all thought Professor Zoom had you," he asked urgently, still checking him over for broken bones and lacerations. Oliver pulled his hands away and saw very light colored blood come away on his gloves, but he couldn't find any open wounds.

"Zoom…" Wally muttered weakly, nodding tiredly and trying to sit up. He suddenly convulsed with a gasp of pain and coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood.

That's when Oliver scooped the limp speedster up in his arms and slung him over his shoulder. He got to his feet and locked one arm around Wally's legs to keep him secure, running back down the tunnel towards his armory as fast as he could. He was most definitely _not_ okay. He had to be bleeding internally somewhere.

When he got close enough, Oliver could hear the distinct whirring of the zeta tube in his armory waiting for him. Oliver ran right for the tube, trying as hard as he could not to jostle Wally, who seemed to have fallen unconscious, "Hold on, kid. Just hang on. We're almost there, I promise."

If Wally could hear him, he gave no indication of it. Oliver clambered into the zeta tube and slammed the button with his elbow, switching radio frequencies and sending out one last message before the zeta beam scanned him, "Red Arrow! Get to the Watchtower _ASAP_!"

The teleporter beamed them up to the Watchtower a second later, and then Oliver was looking out at the observation deck. His stomach dropped into his knees, and he could have hit himself in the face. Dammit! He'd told them to prep the medical bay, but he hadn't specified that he needed to be sent to the zeta tubes there.

_"Recognize: Green Arrow – 08, Kid Flash – B03"_

The first thing he saw was Dinah and Hal both running towards him. They paused a little once the computer's announcement really sank in, and Oliver saw Dinah's eyes go wide when she recognized who was on his back. Oliver stepped out of the zeta tube and knelt down, slowly and carefully laying Wally out on the floor. Hal was there in an instant, looking uncharacteristically terrified, "Is he alive?!"

"Yep," Oliver double-checked his pulse just to be positive. "But there's something wrong. He's coughing up blood, and he passed out pretty much the second I tried to move him."

Hal activated his ring and started scanning Wally's whole body, actually shaking a little, "He's got perforated organs, internal hemorrhaging, and…some kind of…toxin in his blood? I'm not sure. The ring's saying it's...particles of concrete? That doesn't make any sense."

Dinah knelt down beside Wally and immediately started mothering him, brushing his hair back and touching the side of his face carefully. She looked up at Oliver in open shock, "How did you find him?!"

" _He_ found _me_ ," Oliver shrugged helplessly. "I think he escaped or something. I can't imagine Professor Zoom would just let him go."

"I'm taking him to the med bay," Hal picked Wally up gingerly and enveloped them both in green light. "Call Barry right now and tell him we have Wally."

Then, he soared out of the room and out of sight. Dinah ran down a different hallway, heading back to the monitor womb at a dead run. Oliver was right behind her, trying not to picture Wally lying in Hal's arms like a rag doll.

When they reached the monitor womb, Dinah was at the console in seconds, ignoring the dozens of video feeds all around the room. She immediately pulled up Superman's communicator and hailed him on it, "Watchtower to Superman. Respond."

"Superman?" Oliver asked her quizzically. Why hadn't she sent a transmission to Barry first thing? Anyone with eyes could see the agony he'd been in the last two days. Knowing that Wally was safe and waiting for him but not telling him was cruel. It was just prolonging his suffering.

"He's the team leader for that mission," Dinah explained calmly, though Oliver could hear a slight tremor in her voice. "I think that telling Flash right now might endanger the mission and their lives, so I'm telling Superman and allowing _him_ to make that call."

It wasn't right. Oliver's eyes narrowed at the screen as Clark's League ID was pulled up.

_"Superman to Watchtower. What is it? We've cornered Blacksmith, and we're about to move in on her."_

Dinah keyed the microphone, "We have Kid Flash at the Watchtower. He's safe, and Green Lantern is bringing him to the medical bay as we speak."

Superman didn't say anything for a long minute, and he sounded baffled when he finally spoke, _"How? Who found him?"_

"He ran to Green Arrow for help, but that's all we know so far. What would you like us to do about Flash?" she asked clearly.

 _"I'll tell him myself but not until after the mission's complete. This Blacksmith is a lot worse than we originally thought, and she needs to be taken off the streets while we have the chance. We need Flash here and focused in order to do that,"_ Clark said regretfully. _"But the Team has finished their part of the mission. Once they get the drug dealers they apprehended cleared for zeta transport by the authorities, they'll be bringing them to the Hall of Justice for questioning. After that, I leave it up to you whether to tell them or not."_

Oliver wasn't satisfied with that. He nudged Dinah out of the way, earning himself a disbelieving glare, "Supes, this isn't right. You need to tell him immediately that Kid Flash is alive and here."

 _"I swear to you, I_ would _if I thought he could handle it without running off on J'onn, Batman, and myself. As it is, Flash has been operating well past his breaking point for days now, and I can't risk it. I'm sorry. It's for his own safety as well. I'll accept the full blame for my decision once we've subdued Blacksmith and are back on the Watchtower."_

Oliver chewed at the inside of his cheek unhappily but allowed Dinah to shoulder him out of the way so she could assume the controls again. He thought for a second that she was about to agree with Clark, but her face looked just as upset, "I'm telling his aunt, at least. You have one hour to finish that mission and get back up to the Watchtower before I bring up Flash's communicator and tell him myself. Is that clear?"

Oliver's eyes widened a little as he stared at his girl barking orders at Superman, and a little shiver ran down his spine.

There was another pause, and then, _"Very clear, Black Canary. We'll be through in less than an hour. Superman, out."_

The transmission ended, and Oliver fought to hold in his laughter. Dinah took a deep breath and sat down heavily in the chair, looking like she wanted to unleash a Canary Cry at something. Her head suddenly turned to look at Oliver, and he flinched back in response, "I can't leave the monitor womb again. Will you go tell Iris that Wally is safe?"

Oliver nodded, "I'm always up for giving good news like this. Tell me when Roy gets here."

"You called Roy?" Dinah turned to watch him go.

"I had to," Oliver nodded, walking backwards now and throwing his arms out to the sides. "We fought again – you were there. Have to try and make it up somehow, don't I?"

0000

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[The Watchtower

March 25, 12:15 EST]

_"Recognize: Red Arrow – 21"_

Roy stomped out of the zeta tube and into the Watchtower's Javelin bay in a terrible mood. If Oliver thought he could scream his head off at him and then _call him in the middle of a mission_ just to tell him to come over so he could yell some more, then Roy was going to kick his ass.

He should have just kept his mouth shut. How the hell had he expected _Ollie_ to understand why he was with Jade when _he_ didn't even understand it? He shouldn't have told Oliver anything, but…he'd wanted to. Roy didn't know why, but he'd really needed to talk to someone about what he'd done, and he'd naturally come to the conclusion that his father figure would be the one.

Wrong.

He should've lied to Oliver about where he'd gotten the information from and then told Dinah the truth later.

Roy spotted Oliver hanging by the doorway to the rest of the space station and felt his temper go through the roof. His former mentor looked stressed out, unhappy, and…something else Roy couldn't pinpoint. God, he hoped it wasn't regret. The only thing that could be worse than Ollie wanting to yell at him some more would be if he wanted to apologize, because right now, Roy _really_ wanted to fight. His mission with the Lanterns had not gone well. They'd found another base by pure luck and had investigated it only to find the same thing as always. Nothing. They'd been about to search for the shield generator when Oliver called him away.

Roy stalked towards Oliver once he saw that the older archer had noticed him. He pointed one finger at Ollie and scowled, "What do you want? If it's to-"

"We found Wally," Oliver said quietly, beckoning him over with an urgent wave.

Roy frowned at him blankly, caught off guard, "What…?"

"Get over here!" Oliver hissed, and Roy launched himself across the empty hangar as fast as possible. "I shouldn't have pulled you off your mission, so you can't let anyone see you. I really don't want to have to sit through another Bat-lecture."

Roy didn't even hear anything he said, "Where is he?!"

"In the rehab area of the med bay," Ollie told him and then opened his mouth to say more, but Roy cut him off.

"Who found him? The others are still in Central – I've been keeping track of them. God – is he hurt?!" he froze suddenly. Ollie had only said that they'd found him, not that he was… "I-Is he alive…? He's not de….?"

"He's alive and okay," Ollie said quickly, and Roy felt his heart start beating again. "I just that said he was in the rehab area. _Relax_. Go see him, and try to be stealthy about it. I'll be in the monitor womb with Dinah if you need me."

He was gone before the end of that sentence. Roy clapped Ollie on the shoulder as he passed and then ran full tilt towards the Watchtower's rehabilitation block. There weren't many heroes wandering around since everyone was so busy, which was good because Roy wasn't trying to be stealthy _at all_. His feet pounded the floor relentlessly, and he tore through the halls like death itself was chasing him. He just needed to see his little brother. Ollie had said he was okay, but no one could be okay after spending two days held captive by Zoom. From what he'd heard from Wally and Barry in the past, Professor Zoom was criminally insane and wouldn't hesitate to break Wally's spine.

That made Roy run faster. What if Ollie was lying? What if Wally really was hurt badly, and something irreparable had been done to him?

Roy reached the rehab block in ninety seconds. He threw open the doors and immediately started scanning the room. He saw a bunch of stupid plants, five or six ugly chairs, and Wally's mop of wild red hair sticking out from his aunt's arms, which were wrapped around his neck. She was obviously smothering him, but Wally had his arms around her just as tightly.

Hal was standing a little off to the side with a grim smile on his face – like he was trying to fake it and wasn't even coming close. He saw Roy right away and walked over to him, dropping the act and grabbing his arm to pull him away. Hal leaned in close and spoke in a severe whisper, "He was tortured. Do not mention Zoom, and do _not_ ask him about it. Wally's dead on his feet, and we're trying to get him to rest."

Roy felt a black fury roll through every inch of his body, and he had to fight to keep from yelling obscenities and breaking something. He glared back at Hal, "When did he get back? Who found him?"

"He escaped," Hal peeked over his shoulder to make sure Wally and his aunt couldn't hear him. "Told us he blew up an entire Manhunter base and then booked it to Star City to find Ollie before he passed out."

His protective rage died down a little, and he stared at Hal in confusion, "He _what_?"

Hal nodded with a mild, proud sort of smirk, "Yeah – though he's too tired to give us the details right now. We'll know more when Martian Manhunter gets here and goes through his memories, but for now, he just needs to sleep. He used up a lot of energy healing."

"Ollie said he wasn't hurt," Roy growled carefully, keeping his voice low.

"He isn't anymore," Hal sighed absently. "But when he got here about fifteen minutes ago, he was in pretty bad shape. He was bleeding internally, but by the time I got him to the med bay, all his wounds were healed. There was some kind of ultrafine, pulverized concrete in his blood that Dr. Mid-Nite had to flush out, and every single one of his fingers showed incorrectly healed breaks that needed to be re-broken and set. Wally said he tried to fix them himself, but two didn't heal right."

Roy felt sick to his stomach. He looked over at Wally and saw him sitting upright on one of the couches with Iris still fussing over him. Neither seemed to have noticed that he was there yet. "How did he heal so fast? It took him over a month to heal up completely before."

"How did he blow up a Manhunter base and escape from Professor Zoom?" Hal answered his question with another of his own. "We'll have to wait until he's not about to drop from exhaustion to find out."

"Why isn't he asleep then if he's so tired? Shouldn't Dr. Mid-Nite have knocked him out or something if it's that important?" Roy frowned at the back of Wally's head.

"Wally didn't want any anesthesia. He said he hasn't slept in days without passing out or being gassed first," Hal looked grim again, a muscle in his jaw clenching dangerously. "I don't think he feels safe enough to fall asleep. It probably hasn't sunk in yet that he's not there anymore, and Zoom can't get him."

"I'll fucking _kill_ Zoom," Roy ground out furiously.

"Get in line," Hal cocked an eyebrow at him. He looked over at Wally and his aunt, taking a deep breath to calm down a little. "I'm glad you're here, actually. I need to talk to Iris and get her to agree to let J'onn show us Wally's memories while he's asleep. He probably saw a lot that could be helpful to us, and there's no sense in making him relive everything all over again. Are you willing to stay with him for awhile?"

Roy gave Hal a look that said he'd never heard a stupider question and walked right up to where his little brother was wearily letting Iris mother him without even an ounce of protest. Wally heard him approaching and twisted around to look at him in startled alarm. Iris paused in smoothing his damp hair back to look at Roy as well, sniffing lightly and giving him a watery smile.

Wally stared at him anxiously for a few heartbeats, every muscle in his body clearly tensed to run, before relaxing and smiling at him tiredly, "Roy…"

He looked terrible – not in the sense that he was a mess; Wally looked uninjured and smelled like he'd recently gotten out of the shower. He was wearing clean clothes, a simple t-shirt and sweatpants that looked like they were too big for him – Iris had probably grabbed some of her husband's clothes for him to wear. No, it was his eyes that worried Roy the most. Wally was smiling, but his eyes looked haunted, and everything about his posture screamed wounded animal.

The second Roy heard Wally say his name, he sat down beside him on the couch and pulled him into a hug. Wally didn't even hesitate. He latched onto Roy instantly and locked his arms around his middle like his life depended on it. Roy heard him let out what might have been a quiet sob, and the arms around him trembled convulsively, but he didn't say anything. He just held Wally and let him bury his face in his shoulder while he silently reassured himself that his little brother really was here, "You're not allowed to get kidnapped ever again. Understand?"

Roy's voice shook when he spoke, but no one pointed it out. Wally pulled away to look up at him, giving a short little laugh, "I already promised Aunt I."

"Good," Roy said gruffly, releasing Wally and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Iris, can we talk for a few minutes?" Hal nodded towards the door to the hallway, looking apologetic for having to pull her away from her nephew.

Iris frowned at him reluctantly, clearly not wanting to leave her nephew so soon after being reunited with him.

"I'm fine," Wally assured her in a weak, croaking voice.

Roy spoke up as well, making sure to look her in the eyes so she understood that he was dead serious, "He'll be okay. I'm gonna stay with him."

Iris still looked torn, but she stood up and lightly cupped the side of Wally's face, giving him a kiss on his temple, "Try to get some sleep, honey. _Please_."

Wally nodded, blinking slowly like he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. Iris chewed at her lip unhappily and followed Hal out of the room, leaving Roy and Wally alone.

"So, why aren't you sleeping?" Roy asked bluntly, not wasting any time fixing Wally with a stern frown.

"I'm not tired," Wally slurred, blinking rapidly and opening his eyes ridiculously wide like he thought that would convince Roy otherwise.

"Bullshit. You look awful. Don't lie to me."

"Alright," Wally sighed, slumping against the cough and sounding absolutely drained. "I just – I _want_ to sleep, but I just can't. I mean, I'm really trying, but I – I _can't_."

Roy recalled what Hal had said about Wally not feeling safe. He moved over to the end of the couch and dragged Wally with him, curling an arm around his shoulders and pulling the exhausted speedster against his side, "Well, you can now, because I'm here, and I'll shoot anyone who comes in through that door."

Wally gave him a worried frown, putting up mild resistance.

"Not your aunt or Hal, of course," Roy rolled his eyes, and then paused. "No, wait. I'd shoot Hal, I think, but definitely not your aunt. Point is, you don't have to worry about anyone getting you while you're sleeping."

"I wasn't-" Wally turned a little red in embarrassment.

Roy cut him off to let him keep a little bit of dignity, "I know. I just wanted to tell you."

He looked unsure, but Roy kept his own expression neutral until Wally relaxed and crumpled against him. Roy made him stretch out on the couch and twisted so that Wally could lean on his chest, keeping one arm around him like it was perfectly natural for him to outwardly show this much affection for another human being. There were very few instances and even fewer people that Roy would drop the tough guy act for, but Wally was definitely one of them. He waited until Wally was comfortable and his eyes were mostly closed before he said anything, "So, I heard you torched a Manhunter base all by yourself."

"Mmhmm," Wally nodded just barely, his eyelids dropping another few millimeters. "'N I took out…couple hnndred thousand Mm…manhunters too…"

Roy blinked a few times in surprise, wondering if he'd heard him correctly, "…What, _really?_ "

"Yup…" Wally croaked in a gravelly voice.

Roy's eyebrows rose in impressed alarm, "That's…pretty badass…"

"S'how I roll…"

A wry grin found its way onto Roy's face, and he smiled down at Wally fondly, feeling his chest swell with pride – and a little laughter. He just shifted his arm more securely around Wally and tried to keep as still as possible. Wally was asleep in seconds, and Roy watched over him like a guard dog. He kept one hand around his bow and his eyes on the door.


	20. Chapter 20

[The Watchtower

March 25, 12:45 EST]

" _Robin!_ Get back here!"

Dick ignored Hal's hissed whisper and slid beneath the arm he stretched out to stop him with. He sprinted down the hall with numb legs and hit the door at a dead run, heart hammering painfully in his chest. He burst into the room and immediately skidded to a halt when he heard a high-pitched whistling sound, reeling back when a red arrow thunked into the wall right in front of his eyes. The shaft quivered from the force of the impact, and Dick stared at it less than three inches away. He looked to the side and saw Roy holding his bow sideways over the back of the couch he was on, one arm pulled back with relaxed fingers and a bored expression on his face.

"Darn," he deadpanned, pulling the bow back behind the couch and collapsing it. "I missed…"

Sudden, violent irritation swept over Dick's previous worry, and he glared at Roy, wrenching the arrow out of the wall with one jerk of his arm, "You don't miss."

"Well, my _arm's_ been half asleep for the last fifteen minutes," Roy protested, drawing his arms back to his lap – or so Dick thought.

Dick knew that Roy would never shoot at him to actually try and _hit_ him, but he was just manic enough right now that the fact meant very little to him. He snapped the arrow in half angrily and marched around the side of the couch to the front, intending to throw the pieces right at Roy's face.

"I'm also incredibly high-strung right now, and I've had more than enough time to get angrier than I've ever been in my life," Roy said with a deep, controlled breath. "So, the next time you barge into a room that you _know_ I'm in, announce yourself first. _Then_ , maybe I won't shoot at you."

"That's-" Dick froze, and both halves of the arrow fell from his hands. His mouth snapped shut, and his eyes went wide in stunned disbelief. Roy was reclining in one corner of the couch with Wally curled against his shoulder and fast asleep. He had one arm lazily draped around Wally and was staring up at Dick with a calm but unhappy expression on his face.

"You can come closer. He's pretty much out cold; I don't think you'll wake him up."

Dick cautiously stepped forward, falling to his knees right in front of the couch. He reached out and lightly touched Wally's arm, eyes glued to his face like he was afraid Wally would disappear if he looked away. Dick drank in the sight of him and was finally able to breathe easy for the first time in three days.

"Is he okay?" he asked in a croaking voice, his throat closing up on him suddenly as he was overwhelmed by red hair, steady, even breathing, and rapid eye movement beneath closed lids.

"No."

Dick tore his eyes off Wally's sleeping face and looked up at Roy.

"Not even close," Roy shook his head.

"How do you know?" Dick asked desperately. "Did he tell you anything?"

"Did they tell you what Wally did to escape?" Roy cocked an eyebrow at him, and Dick nodded.

When he and the Team had returned to the cave, they'd found Red Tornado waiting for them with the news. He'd told them that Wally had blown up a Manhunter base to escape, and that Captain Atom had already been dispatched to investigate the site in Siberia. Since Dick was the only one with Watchtower clearance at the moment, he took off immediately for the zeta tubes with Conner and Kaldur practically shoving him out the door.

"Then, you know as much as I do," Roy sighed deeply. "All you have to do is take one look at him when he's awake, and you'll know what I mean."

Dick slumped against the couch miserably, folding his arms on the cushion and resting his chin on them. He stared at Wally silently, wishing he could make everything better. So far, it had been nothing but one horrible thing after another, getting progressively worse and worse each time, and they weren't even in the clear yet. He leaned his forehead on the side of Roy's knee and tried not to drown under the weight of everything bearing down on him.

Roy rapped his knuckles on the top of Dick's head, startling him out of his worries, " _Hey._ Switch places with me. My legs are all numb."

"What?" Dick looked up at him blankly.

"Switch places with me," Roy repeated like he was stupid. Then, he fixed Dick with a stern look and gestured to himself and Wally. "And if you tell _anyone_ about this, I swear to God, I'll kill you."

Dick sat back on his heels, still not understanding. He looked at Wally, then at Roy again and how they were sitting, and felt his stomach start churning anxiously. Oh. _Oh_. He was suddenly conscious of how Wally was lying on Roy. It was totally fine for them; they really could pass as brothers. At the very worst, it just made Roy look like a softie, but that was only because Roy _didn't_ have a crush on Wally. Dick wouldn't be able to get away with the same thing.

 _Him_ holding Wally like that would be… _amazing_ , especially after being so terrified for him and not seeing him for so long. But it would also be really inappropriate because Dick would be thinking about _very_ different things than Roy was.

He apparently took too long to react, because Roy rolled his eyes and reached over to grab his arm with his free hand, "Ugh, just get over here."

"No – _Roy_!" Dick hissed, fighting to get loose. "I can't!"

"Why the hell not?" Roy frowned at him, tilting his head slightly.

"You know why," Dick insisted, looking pointedly at Wally, who was oblivious to their conversation.

"Oh my God, really?" It seemed to click for Roy suddenly, and he fixed Dick with an unamused stare like he was being ridiculous. "You can't sit on the same couch as him because you're in love?"

Dick shot Roy a death glare and glanced sideways at Wally nervously, "Shh!"

"Dick, he's so unconscious I could play a drum solo on his head, and he wouldn't wake up," Roy shook his head at him in fake astonishment. "Look."

Dick watched in horror as Roy started pulling on Wally's ears and flicking his nose lightly. He pulled up one of Wally's eyelids and let it fall closed again, "Hey, Wally. _Wally_. Dick has a crush on you."

Wally didn't even twitch in his sleep. He just snored softly into Roy's shoulder while Dick promptly had a panic attack.

"Like, a huge, extremely weird infatuation with you," Roy poked Wally right between the eyebrows and wiggled his finger around to try and get his attention. Dick frantically grabbed Roy's wrist and wrestled it out to the side while the older boy just laughed. "I think he wants to have your babies."

"Shut _up!_ " Dick pulled a batarang from his utility belt and held it up threateningly. "I will stab you!"

"I'll stop if you hurry up and take my place," Roy grinned at him tauntingly, clearly enjoying this _way_ too much. Dick was about to refuse once more when the archer's expression turned a little more serious. He idly tapped Wally's shoulder blades as he spoke. "Look, he couldn't fall asleep until I did this. For some reason, it made him feel more secure, and I don't want him to wake up without _someone_ there."

Dick's eyes flickered down to look at Wally sadly. He looked peaceful _now_ , but Dick didn't even want to imagine him being too scared to fall asleep. His resolve broke down a little.

"Come on. I think you need it as badly as he does," Roy dropped the teasing and gave him a sympathetic half smile. "Or…I could try and get Artemis up here. I'm sure _she_ wouldn't mind comforting Wally if you're not feeling up to it."

Uh, _no!_

Dick stood up with a deep breath and refused to make eye contact with Roy as he moved to the armrest and motioned for Roy to get up. Roy very carefully lifted up Wally's torso and freed his trapped leg, swinging it off the side of the couch and awkwardly getting to his feet while keeping the unconscious speedster suspended over the cushions. He gestured with a nod for him to move, and Dick quickly climbed into the space Roy had just occupied, trying to position himself the same way.

Roy had other ideas, clearly.

He suddenly pushed Dick down almost flat on his back and then hefted Wally right on top of him before Dick had time to realize what was happening. The abrupt, jarring motion made Wally stir a little, and both Dick and Roy froze as he groaned in his sleep. Wally snaked both arms around Dick's waist and clung to him like a sloth, burying his face in the crook of Dick's neck to get comfortable before settling back down into deep sleep again. Muscles still locked up in shock, Dick held his arms out and away from Wally, one leg trapped between Wally's knee and the backrest of the couch and the other dangling off the side.

Roy covered his mouth with one hand and looked away like he was trying to fight off laughter, "Aww, how lucky for you; Wally's a cuddler."

"Roy! _Seriously_ ," Dick protested quietly. "He's _going_ to wake up right when you say something. That's how my luck works!"

Roy didn't look like he was in the sort of mood to humor him, "And why is that so bad?"

Dick sputtered for an answer and gestured to Wally as if that would explain everything, "It just…I don't know."

"You've got to tell him how you feel sooner or later," Roy shifted his weight from foot to foot, massaging the stiff knee that Wally had been lying on. "He could've died, you know, and you would've never had the chance to say anything to him. Doesn't that make you want to go for it?"

It did, and Dick had even decided earlier that day that he would tell Wally he loved him the very second he laid eyes on him again, but he'd imagined it going very differently. He'd planned on _him_ finding Wally – swooping in and saving him from Zoom and Blue Trinity – and then holding him in his arms and telling him right then and there. He hadn't counted on Wally saving himself. It just didn't feel right to tell him right now.

"I don't believe this," Roy read the hesitation on Dick's face and let his head roll back in frustration. "Just _tell_ him. What's the absolute worst that can happen?"

"It could ruin everything forever!" Dick blurted out like it was obvious. He valued his and Wally's friendship _way_ too much to risk screwing it up by having him find out by overhearing Roy's big mouth give something away.

"Don't be stupid. You're acting like a drama queen," Roy sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Besides, I don't think you have anything to worry about."

Dick bristled and then frowned at him suspiciously, "How do you know?"

"Um…?" Roy pointed at how Wally was currently wrapped around Dick and actually smiling a little in his sleep, "He didn't do that when he was leaning against _me_. Call it an educated guess."

Dick looked down at Wally and tried to see if there was some sort of tell or not by judging how tightly his ribcage was being squeezed. He hadn't actually spent any time wondering if Wally liked him back. He'd worried about the 'or not' side of that terrifying coin but hadn't thought about trying to figure out how Wally felt about him beyond friendship.

He very tentatively curled one arm around Wally's back and placed the other on his shoulder. Wally's steady breathing hitched lightly in response, and he shifted a little, snuggling deeper into Dick's chest before going still again. Dick felt his heart skip a few beats, and he couldn't help the lightheadedness that swept over him.

Roy smirked and fixed him with an 'I told you so' look before going to retrieve his bow and quiver, "Have fun. I'm going to go check on things out there. Wally said something weird before he fell asleep, and I want to see if Captain Atom's found anything like it yet."

"Weird like how?" Dick asked curiously.

"He said he took out two hundred thousand Manhunters…" Roy frowned as he spoke, like he was considering the idea. "I want to know if he was just delirious, or if that actually happened."

"What, like hand to hand?" Dick tried to imagine Wally dispatching a whole army of Manhunters in his current condition. "There's no way."

"He did say he blew up a whole base," Roy shrugged like he didn't agree or disagree. "But, all the bases the Lanterns have found so far have been small – like only big enough for five hundred, _if_ that. There hasn't been anything like what Wally was describing."

"Go ahead and find out," Dick said, chewing on the inside of his lip anxiously. "I'm good here. I'll stay with him till he wakes up."

"I'm sure you will," Roy grinned, walking out the door and pausing to stick his head back in one last time. "Do you want me to put a sock on the doorknob? Or a 'do not disturb' sign?"

Dick's whole face flushed hot, and he sucked in a deep breath to yell at Roy before choking it back. Right. Don't wake up Wally. Not when they were in this kind of position. He tried to control his racing heart and calm down, but it was _really_ difficult. Especially when he really liked the feeling of Wally's body pressed against his. The proximity was making him dizzy, so he tried to focus on something else. _Anything_ else.

It worked for the first ten minutes or so, but he kept getting pulled back by the feeling of Wally's heart beating steadily against his stomach. Dick found himself slowly dragging his fingertips across the wiry muscles on Wally's back, feeling his shoulder blades and each ridge of his spine. He felt the strong curves of Wally's arm and breathed a little easier, moving his hand to tangle in his bright hair. Wally groaned in his sleep, and Dick lifted his hands like he'd been burned. Jeez, what did he think he was doing?! He was practically feeling Wally up _while_ he was unconscious!

Dick brought his hands up to cover his face, feeling the heat radiating through his fingers. He breathed in deeply, enjoying the pressure of Wally's weight pressing down on him. Okay, be cool about this, Grayson. Keep it together, and Wally won't have any idea you were being gross all up on him. Just keep your hands to yourself and take advantage of the moment.

He couldn't keep the smile off his face as he thought about how many times he'd imagined this very scenario since he'd accepted his feelings for Wally. Dick exhaled with a laugh and uncovered his face only to see a pair of tired green eyes staring back at him. He just about jumped out of his skin.

"Dick…?" Wally squinted to try and see him better, and Dick forced himself to unfreeze.

"H-Hey!" he stuttered, trying not to look guilty.

Wally looked down at Dick's chest in confusion, then over at where his own arms were, and back up at Dick's face again, eyes going wide with some sort of realization. He scrambled off of Dick quickly and fell back against the opposite end of the couch, his face and ears flushing red in embarrassment, "Whoa! Holy crap – where did you come from?! I thought you were Roy."

"I just got back," Dick said awkwardly. "Roy – uh…left."

"Oh…okay," Wally rubbed at the back of his neck just as uncomfortably, looking down at his lap.

They both fell into a silence that felt inherently _wrong_. They _never_ had awkward silences. Dick avoided Wally's gaze and groaned when he thought about how long he'd wished to see his best friend again and all the things he'd sworn to do when they were finally reunited. None of it was happening. He was ruining it. What he needed to do was listen to Roy and just tell Wally. Right now – before some other disaster happened or they were interrupted.

Wally looked up at him as if sensing that he was getting ready to say something. His expression was curious, and his pretty green eyes were making it hard for Dick to think about anything other than spilling his guts out. Just tell him, Grayson. Do it right now.

"I…" he began, and the sound of his voice grabbed Wally's complete attention.

Tell him. You said you would.

The words caught in Dick's throat, so he took a moment to clear it. His heart started beating frantically, and all the feeling left his fingers and toes. Dick blinked rapidly to steady the dizziness he felt. He took in one shuddering breath, opened his mouth…

…and chickened out.

"I really missed you," he told him instead, already feeling disappointment and self loathing creeping in.

Coward.

Wimp.

Wuss.

Fraidy-cat.

Wally exhaled with a shaky laugh, and all the tension between them disappeared. He crawled back across the couch, and Dick met him halfway. Wally pulled Dick into a crushing embrace, locking both arms around him tightly, "I missed you too. I missed _everyone_."

Dick buried his nose in Wally's shoulder and inhaled his scent feverishly. He smelled a little different than usual – Dick figured it was all the disinfectant in the med bay – but just as comforting as always.

"You helped me escape."

"What?" Dick pulled back, frowning at him in confusion.

Wally averted his eyes suddenly and started picking at the worn fabric of the sweatpants he was wearing, "My dad had just finished making me feel like crap, and-"

"Your dad was there?" Dick felt a spike of alarm shoot through him.

"Yeah," Wally nodded slowly, eyes downcast. "He came to see me just before I escaped, and he brought me really low…but right as I was starting to believe him, I heard you in my head, and you snapped me out of it."

Dick's eyes widened in surprise, and he promptly forgot how to breathe, "Uh…"

"Sorry, I know that's weird," Wally scratched at his scalp uncomfortably. "Thinking about you just gave me the confidence I needed to…use my full powers, and…vibrate through…wow, _yeah_ , I'm just gonna stop there…"

Wally's entire face had turned bright red, and he had his eyes shut tight and face screwed up like he'd just made a colossal mistake. Dick bit back the laughter fighting its way to the surface and coughed instead, "You vibrated through something?"

"I totally did!" Wally seemed to recover. "And it was awesome! Until…y'know, everything exploded, and I started coughing up blood. I think I did it wrong… _really_ wrong. Hal said I vibrated little bits of glass and concrete right into my bloodstream."

"I think you're gonna have to work on that with your uncle and Jay," Dick grinned, watching Wally's mood swinging all over the place.

"Tell me about it," Wally nodded with a sheepish sort of sigh. Then, his whole demeanor changed in the blink of an eye. He stared at Dick with a mixture of terror and disbelief. "Jay…? I thought…I thought he was… Is he alive?! I saw him get torn to shreds!"

Dick flinched back when Wally grabbed his shoulders suddenly, "Whoa! Calm down; Jay's alive. Max, too. They're both in the med bay here."

Wally's outline blurred suddenly, and then he was halfway across the room, " _Ihavetogoseethem!_ "

Before Dick had time to move, Wally's knees gave out, and he hit the floor with a high-pitched, startled sort of squeak.

"Okay, you're definitely not good to walk yet," Dick leapt up and pulled him back to his feet. Wally grabbed onto him for support and let Dick lead him back to the couch. He sat back down heavily, holding his head and squeezing his eyes shut tightly like he'd just gotten a massively debilitating bout of vertigo.

"I really thought they were dead," Wally gasped urgently, eyes still glued to the door.

"Look, you go to sleep for a little longer," Dick sat down beside him, watching his pale skin and the bags under his eyes worriedly. "And when you wake up, I'll make sure we go see them."

"What about Uncle Barry? Is he here yet? Hal said he was still in Central earlier."

"I have a feeling that the very second he gets to the Watchtower, he'll be on his way here," Dick half smiled at Wally. "We were working on leads to find you when you went ahead and so rudely rescued yourself. His team hasn't come back yet."

"Oh…okay," Wally looked disappointed. Dick guessed that he just really needed his mentor after everything that had happened. He slumped against the couch bonelessly and shut his eyes again, looking like the brief adrenaline from waking up had worn off.

"Hey, I wanna give you a heads up if you're going to pass out," Dick jerked his head towards the door. "They want to look through your memories while you're asleep so that you don't need to give a report later."

Wally's eyes suddenly hollowed, and Dick understood exactly what Roy had been talking about earlier. His skin went even paler, and he looked down at his hands, eyebrows drawing together tightly.

Without thinking, Dick reached out and turned Wally's face towards him, pressing their foreheads together. His green eyes flickered up in surprise, and Dick stared calmly into them, "If you don't want them to see what happened, then I won't let them anywhere near you. No one will blame you. They'll just have to wait until you're ready to tell them."

Wally looked relieved for a split second, but then his discomfort seemed to return full force and he was suddenly looking miles away.

"The League just doesn't want you to go through it all again so soon, I think."

"No, I get it…" Wally said quickly. "They uh….I'm okay with it…"

"You sure?" Dick tilted his head worriedly. "You don't look very okay with it right _now_."

"Well, the last two days haven't exactly been my proudest moments," Wally admitted quietly.

Dick frowned at him with a knot in his chest, "You have _nothing_ to be ashamed about. You realize that, right? You fought your way free from one of the deadliest villains out there."

"I promise you it wasn't that impressive," Wally grumbled self-deprecatingly.

" _I'm_ impressed," Dick said very seriously, giving Wally a crooked smile when he saw him turn a little red.

His redhead was silent for a few moments, apparently thinking hard about something. Then, a second later, Wally stretched out on the couch, resting his head on Dick's lap hesitantly, "Is it alright if I…?"

"Yes!" Dick said entirely too quickly, then he tried to play it off like it was no big deal. He tried to look around casually, but his eyes kept getting drawn back to Wally's face, which was staring up at him uncertainly. If he didn't calm down, Wally was going to move. He floundered mentally for a moment, trying to decide what to do with his hands that would feel normal. Dick placed one hand on Wally's chest and started carding the other through his red hair.

Oh, _mistake_! That definitely wasn't normal.

He was just about to remove both of his hands when he saw Wally's eyes slide closed and felt his body relax. Encouraged, Dick tangled his fingers more fully in Wally's hair and started massaging the scalp to help him fall asleep faster.

"Can you…do one thing for me?" Wally cracked open his eyes halfway.

"Anything," he promised.

"When they go through my memories," Wally continued, voice tinged with a little bit of dread. "Can you make sure to tell my aunt that I don't blame her – that it isn't her fault?"

"Your aunt?" Dick didn't understand. "What does she have to do with it?"

"Please?" Wally locked eyes with him, and Dick knew that whatever this was about, it was important.

He didn't ask any more questions, "I'll tell her."

"Thanks, Dick," Wally reached one hand up to his chest and intertwined his fingers with Dick's. He gave him a grateful smile and let his eyes fall shut again in sleep.

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[The Watchtower

March 25, 13:30 EST]

_"Recogn-"_

Barry was already at the med bay before the Watchtower's security system finished announcing his name. He found the hallway leading to the rehab wing where Hal and Iris were waiting for him and immediately pulled his wife into his arms. She was used to him appearing out of nowhere by now and didn't even look surprised.

_"-sh-04, Martian Manhunter – 07, Batman – 02, Superman – 01"_

Superman.

Barry glanced over his shoulder furiously, sensing something very fast approaching. He ignored it and looked back at Iris, yanking back his mask, "How is he?"

"Sleeping," she said quickly. "He's been asking for you. Robin's in there with him right now, and I just agreed to let J'onn look through his memories. I don't like it, but I can't see a better way to find out what happened to him there without making him relive it."

"We've been trying not to let him think about anything and just rest," Hal told him. Then he abruptly looked apologetic. "Barry, I'm so sorry. I told them to contact you the minute Green Arrow brought Wally topside, but I should have done it myself. I never thought they'd keep it from you."

"It wasn't their choice…" Barry said darkly, stepping back from his wife and turning around as a familiar figure in red and blue came flying around the corner. Clark landed and swiftly started walking towards him. Barry felt a white hot rage boil the blood in his veins and supercharge the air around him. Small sparks crackled along his body, and he saw Hal activate his ring and pull Iris back against the wall out of harm's way.

"Barry-" Clark began. He'd been trying to explain his decision the whole way to Belle Reve Penitentiary.

"Do _not_ come near me right now," Barry warned him, attempting to make his voice sound calm for Iris' sake. One of the sparks jumped off his shoulder in an arc of lightning. He knew he wasn't as intimidating as Batman, but Barry was one of the few beings on the planet who could hurt the man of steel. Normally, the thought would've never crossed his mind, but right now that fact was not lost on him.

"I'm not making any excuses," Clark held up his hands peaceably, and it only made Barry angrier.

"I don't care," he ground out. "There _aren't_ any excuses for what you did."

"It was just to keep you there until we had Blacksmith subdued," Clark continued, speaking like he was trying to talk down an angry animal. "I was worried that the knowledge would distract you, and during a fight that could've been dangerous. Or you might have taken off-"

Barry's temper flared immediately. Beside him, Hal took a step forward, "Hey now."

"I'm not some rookie hero that doesn't know how to handle themselves in a fight. I've been at this just as long as you have," Barry shot back furiously. Hal put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, but he shook it off and pushed him back. "And don't you _dare_ try to say that I would leave you behind!"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Clark said hurriedly, wincing a little. "I just know that you love your family, and they'd be the first thing on your mind."

"I'd _kill_ for my family," Barry said forcefully. "But that doesn't mean I'd risk my teammates' safety!"

"I couldn't take the chance-"

" _What_ chance?!" Barry shouted, throwing his arms out wide while Clark stared at him stonily. "The _only_ thing I needed from you was for you to have my back like I have _always_ had yours!"

Barry worked hard to keep himself in place as lightning flashed along his body. He saw J'onn and Bruce come around the corner and registered the grim alarm on their faces when they took in the scene.

"The number of things I have looked the other way on for you is-" Clark started to raise his voice when Iris suddenly stomped up to him, waving off Hal when he tried to envelop her in protective light, and held one hand right up to his face. Clark took a step back in surprise, and his mouth snapped shut when he saw the glare she was shooting at him.

"Stop it right now! My nephew is trying his hardest to sleep in the next room," Iris pointed one shaking finger at the door to the rehab area. "If you wake him up and force him to remember Zoom torturing him, I'll have Hal drag you out into space and drop you on some planet with the biggest red sun he can find. Do you understand me?"

Barry's anger died down a little as he watched Clark wither under the force of Iris' glower. He ducked his head and said a quick 'yes, ma'am'.

"I appreciate that you had a difficult choice to make, and I thank you for thinking of my husband's safety," Iris dropped her hand, but kept her expression stern. "However, this is the last time that something like this happens. You will _not_ pull anything like this again and keep information about my family from us."

When Clark nodded again, Iris spun around and fixed her gaze on Barry next. He prepared himself for her to scold him as well, but she just rested both hands gently on his shoulders and softened her stare. She didn't even flinch when the electricity jumping off of him in wild arcs started dancing along her own arms like she was a lightning rod. "I need you to calm down and _let this go_."

Barry looked at her like she was crazy, glancing over her shoulder at Clark. She wanted him to forget about his betrayal like it was nothing?! Iris took the side of his face and made him refocus his attention on her, "We're all on the same side, right? Let's put this behind us and focus on helping Wally and finding out what happened. That needs to be our priority. We don't have time to argue with each other over something that doesn't even matter anymore."

Barry's eyes darted all over Iris' face, and he tried to use the feeling of her hand on his arm as an anchor. He wasn't even close to being ready to forgive Clark, but he'd never deny his wife anything. And she was right; this wasn't the time to fight amongst themselves. He and Clark could hash things out later.

"Alright," he agreed after a long minute, taking a deep breath and letting go of the erratic energy surging through him. Iris gave him a grateful little smile and stepped back to give him some space.

"We should move quickly," Batman suggested in his deep voice. He came to stand beside Barry and gave a short nod to the door before looking at Iris. "Did you agree to let us see Kid Flash's memories?"

"Yes," she said immediately.

"I must pull the events from his mind while the memories are still fresh," J'onn told them, leading the way down the hall and pushing open the doors to the rehabilitation room. Barry zipped after him, eager to see his nephew again. He only paused to hold the door open, and when he glanced over his shoulder, he saw Hal elbow Clark in the ribs with a smirk.

"Nothing like Iris Allen to remind you that not all civilians are helpless, eh?"


	21. Chapter 21

[The Watchtower

March 25, 13:40 EST]

Dick really had thought that Wally could recover from this. He'd spoken to him and looked right into his eyes and, while they'd been heavily damaged, they'd been Wally's. Even under all the hurt and fatigue, sparks shone through that let him know that Wally still wasn't beaten. He was a fighter and was stubbornly keeping his head above water all by himself when it was easier to just drown. Wally had survived his father's betrayal, and Dick had honestly thought he could be okay after this as well.

The longer he watched Wally's memories, the less he believed that was true.

It wasn't like watching surveillance footage or a movie. Two days had passed since Wally was taken, so his memories of the first twenty-four hours were incomplete and disjointed. The events passed by in foggy, blurry flashes, and only the really significant and the most terrifying moments were recalled in absolute clarity along with _exactly_ what he was feeling at the time.

Dick felt his best friend's panic as he realized he was trapped in a cell and the petrifying fear, confusion, denial, and then horrified understanding as he saw Professor Zoom's face transfigured into his uncle's. _That_ was one of the most vivid instants. He could count every stitch on Zoom's face and taste the same flavor of terror that Wally experienced. The memory was interrupted by a wispy sequence that Wally imagined of Zoom ripping the eyes right out of people's heads as he searched for the correct shade of blue to match Barry's. He could hear every word while Zoom revealed how he knew who Wally was and see the title of Iris' book clear as day.

Then, he knew why Wally asked him to tell Iris that he didn't blame her. On the one hand, it looked pretty damning; Iris had revealed her husband and nephew's identities and a lot of dangerous information about them. But, if what Zoom said was true and Barry does die sometime in the next few decades, the book was most likely a tribute to honor his memory. Dick didn't fault her any more than Wally did, but this was going to destroy her.

They watched the rest of Zoom's crazed ramblings, and Dick's stomach gave a lurch when Wally's dad showed up in full Manhunter uniform. Then, they all felt Wally's shock and betrayal. They saw the glass cell flood with knock-out gas, and then Wally's memories went dark and jumped to the next day. He woke up frantic over the inhibitor collar and the loss of his powers. Dick felt his temper boil over when he saw Uminski and Gregorovich electrocuting Wally. He'd promised Orloff that he'd give them the benefit of the doubt, but no more. He watched as they brought a furiously struggling Wally to get his blood drawn. Wally started panicking again, strapped to a chair and severely disadvantaged without his powers.

Professor Zoom showed up.

And Wally's memories became as sharp as a razor. His fear spiked twice as high without anything separating him from Zoom and kept climbing when he removed his mask. Zoom tried asking for the League identities that Wally knew and started choking him when he refused. Dick almost wished that Wally had given up everything he knew, because what happened next was so much worse. Wally smashed his head into Zoom's in retaliation, and the enraged villain electrocuted him.

Dick couldn't breathe when Zoom asked for Hal's identity. He could already tell what was about to happen. Wally spat blood at him in flat out defiance, so Zoom started breaking his fingers. Dick couldn't physically feel his best friend's pain, but each broken bone drove into his heart like it was happening to _him_ instead. Professor Zoom started asking about Ollie next and calmly broke the rest of Wally's fingers when he gave another smart mouth answer.

Zoom started listing off the superhero relationships he'd been told, and Dick heard his next words clear as day.

'And I know that _you_ are in love with Robin.'

Wally's terror rose to a new high, and Dick went numb.

…What?

Zoom demanded to know who he was, and all of a sudden, Wally's crippling fear flew into a defensive rage. He felt Wally steel himself against what was about to happen and resign to the fact that he'd rather die. Outside of the vision playing in his head, Dick felt around frantically until he found Wally's hand. He crushed it in his, not even thinking about accidentally waking his redhead.

No no no no no…

He didn't want to see this. He didn't want Wally to do this.

Wally kept furiously refusing to say anything about Dick, and the young acrobat felt his own panic take control and his body start shaking. Then, a familiar weight rested firmly on his shoulder, and Dick stiffened up in surprise.

The hand squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, and he knew it was Bruce. Dick used his presence as a lifeline and clung to it to stay calm. He'd fought hard to be allowed to stay and see Wally's memories with the rest of them, and he needed to prove he could handle it. He'd promised Wally that he would be with him every step of the way, and that meant he couldn't check out when it got too rough. If he was going to help Wally, then he had to see this.

Zoom asked one last time for Dick's name, and Wally snarled at him to go fuck himself. Then, Zoom sank a hand into his chest and vibrated it. Wally threw his head back and screamed, and the agonized sound absolutely shattered Dick's heart. The scream started a ringing in his ears that drowned out all other noise. Dick gripped Wally's hand convulsively to reaffirm to himself that he really was still there with them. _Safe_. Away from _Zoom_.

He didn't know how long Professor Zoom tortured him – it felt like hours to Dick. He was right about at his breaking point when the memory started to become fuzzy. All of the details blurred, and the edges darkened as Wally started to lose consciousness. But even then, Wally's resolve never weakened. If anything, he became _more_ determined to defy Zoom.

Dick watched him drag Wally's limp body all through the base, feeling his stomach twist as the memory blacked out several times. Wally kept passing out from the pain, but when he woke long enough for the memory to clear up again, Dick's disbelief mirrored the shock coming off the memory. Floor to ceiling, there were endless platoons of Manhunters and spaceships occupying a massive hangar. And it only got worse from there. Professor Zoom revealed _everything_ : the Manhunter's plan and how it tied into Velocity 9's production, Wally's unwilling role in its perfection, and Vandal Savage's involvement. They hadn't come across his name even once during their search for Wally. Dick felt Wally's dismay at thinking he was responsible for the drug and the violation of his powers that he loved so much.

Zoom electrocuted Wally once more just for fun, and that's when Dick saw Christina for the first time. She dragged Wally back to his cell and removed his collar so he could heal. Then, Dick had to watch him set his fingers all by himself before falling completely unconscious. When the next memory surfaced, he could see Wally's dad yelling at him and feel Wally's indifference. It slowly morphed into a creeping depression once Rudy left, and for one brief moment, Wally gave up. Dick felt him start sliding deeper and deeper into it when, all of a sudden, defiance flared up within him, and he shot to his feet. Confidence and rage radiated off him in waves, completely squashing any fear that was left. Wally suddenly vibrated out of the zip ties binding him and pushed right through the glass. Dick watched in surprise; Wally had never been able to do that before.

Then, the cell exploded, and Wally spent a few moments staring at it in shock before shaking it off and bolting to the side to a big automated door. He slipped under it and ran straight to a window, looking out at the snow with a nervous relief for a few moments before his mood shifted completely. Dread, defiance, and a slow, simmering anger steadily crept in, and Wally zipped to a nearby office, destroying it while gathering supplies. He ran _back_ towards the room he'd been kept in and froze when he saw Uminski and Gregorovich. Anger boiled up in him, and Wally took them both out with startling ferocity and minimal effort.

Then, he sprinted back to the hangar with the Manhunters and started grabbing all the materials he'd need for a bomb. Dick watched in awe while Wally disguised himself and snuck aboard a ship. He'd completely risked his own freedom to blow up the base…

He watched Wally sneak back out and move onto the lab next. He surprised two Manhunters and frantically demolished them before setting off the alarm and slipping into the lab. Wally tore it apart too and destroyed every scrap of Velocity he could find. And, when Professor Zoom showed up, Wally ignored his fear and shakily faced off against him. Despite Dick's horror over what Wally had gone through, he felt affection and pride for his speedster. Not many people, after all this, could stare down their torturer without crumbling.

Wally led Zoom through the compound in a high-speed chase, actually climbing several levels to the top and detonating the bomb he'd created. He saw Wally drag his arm right through a solid wall, and it exploded outwards at the villain, burying him. Wally just kept running, clearing the base entirely before he encountered Christina again. She was ripping up her costume to tie off her brothers' wounds when she spotted Wally. Dick remembered what Dr. Orloff had said about Red and Blue Trinity burning up if there were breaches in their suits when they went faster than the speed of sound.

She gave a loud screech of fury and lunged after Wally, who took off immediately, racing across the snow and ice as fast as he could go. Christina chased after him full speed, but within mere seconds, Wally saw her burst into flames. Even then, she continued to run until she collapsed. Dick felt Wally's shock and fear at watching her die, and he thought he detected the tiniest hint of bewildered guilt beneath the urgency and hope that he would escape.

Wally sprinted to the coast and then straight over the Pacific Ocean, clearly running faster than he ever had before. He started frantically calling for help over a random radio frequency until Green Arrow picked up the signal. By the time he reached Star City, huge holes had burned through Wally's clothes, and his shoes had completely worn down until the soles were gone and he was running on bare feet. The memory degraded further until it was so blurry that Dick could barely make out shapes. Wally made it to Oliver's Arrow Cave before passing out completely.

The memory went black, and Dick felt like the ground beneath him was being yanked away when Martian Manhunter pulled them all out of Wally's head. His own vision returned to him, and Dick had to blink a few times to adjust to looking out of his _own_ eyes instead of Wally's.

Bruce was still behind him, looking grim and stoic as usual. Dick had learned to read his tells though, and the slight downturn of his mouth and tightened muscles in his jaw said he was angry. Sitting on the floor right in front of the couch was Iris, looking shell-shocked and devastated. Barry was standing beside her, equally stunned but shaking so hard that Dick half expected his molecules to fall apart. Hal and Clark were standing a few feet back, both deeply upset. Hal's expression was wooden – like he was still seeing Wally being tortured.

No one moved or spoke for a long minute. Dick looked down at Wally – still out cold and looking utterly peaceful – and somehow that was the last straw. His forced calm cracked for the last time, and Dick felt hysteria flooding in. He was relieved that Wally was sleeping and resting right now, but _how could he_ after going through all that?!

" _Robin_ ," Bruce said quietly but forcefully, taking control of the situation when everyone else was still reeling. "Let Flash take his nephew so they can get him settled somewhere permanent."

Dick looked up at him in surprise and realized that he had Wally's hand in a death grip. He released his aching hold on Wally's hand and slid his other arm out from under his shoulders. Barry seemed to snap out of it as well. He came forward and carefully lifted Wally off the couch, turning slightly to look at his wife, "Iris…"

She didn't really seem like she heard him.

"Green Lantern, go find that map he recovered. It had every Manhunter base plotted on it, and we need to plan raids on those as soon as possible," Bruce continued without missing a beat.

"Right…" Hal enveloped his body in green light and shook himself back into reality. "I'll have John radio the plan over once we have one."

Then, he flew out of the room without another word, and Bruce turned to Superman and Martian Manhunter, "You know what we're looking for now. Fly over, and help Captain Atom search the base before it's too late. You'll need to be backup if Manhunters go to investigate it."

They both nodded and flew to the door. Superman paused and looked back at Barry sadly, "I was wrong. I should have told you immediately."

Barry just nodded brokenly, only half aware of what he said. Superman left quickly after that in a rush of air. Bruce gently grabbed Dick's arm and pulled him to his feet, "Barry, I need to track down the rest of Blacksmith's dealers. The Team brought back a dealer who had samples of V9, and I need to find the rest of them. I'd urge you to take care of Wally and let me handle this."

Barry nodded numbly, "Alright… thanks, Bats."

Bruce didn't even protest the nickname. He just dipped his head once in a short nod and guided Dick to the exit. Dick shot out a hand and grabbed the doorframe, looking back at Wally's aunt, "Wally doesn't blame you."

Iris snapped out of her daze and looked right at him, eyebrows turning downwards in confusion.

"He told me that it isn't your fault," Dick said quickly. "And, he really wants to see Max and Jay. He thought they were dead."

The last thing he saw before Bruce led him from the room was Iris completely breaking down in horrified sobs, and he was worried that he'd made things worse. Bruce didn't give him very much time to think about it; he pulled Dick right to the zeta tubes, not so much walking as gliding through the Watchtower. Dick didn't really want to leave Wally, but he couldn't bring himself to fight to stay.

Bruce had them back in the Batcave within seconds. Before they'd even stepped out of the zeta tube and the computer had finished announcing them, he removed his own mask and dropped to his knees to be eye level with Dick. Then, he peeled off Dick's mask and gripped his arms firmly, blue eyes staring up at him in concern, "How long has this been going on?"

Dick was so taken off guard by the rare and sudden show of emotion that he didn't know what his mentor meant, "What?"

"You and Wally. I wasn't sure why you've been acting so strangely lately, but _that_ made it pretty clear," Bruce jerked his head at the ceiling, and Dick knew he was referring to what Zoom had said in Wally's memories.

That Wally was in love with him.

Dick felt his face heat a little and his stomach twist up anxiously. If that was true… But _Zoom_ was the one who said it. What if he was just lying to rattle Wally? Or what if Psimon misread Wally's feelings for something else? Like _brotherly_ love. Would Psimon be able to tell the difference?

Dick looked back at his guardian nervously, "Since February. But, nothing's going on. We're not… We're just…. I haven't told him yet."

Bruce's eyes tightened in sympathy, and Dick was reminded again that he was one of the very few people on Earth who got to see Batman's human side, "Are you alright?"

Dick didn't know how to answer at first. Yes? No? He'd just found out that Wally had been tortured because he was protecting Dick's identity, and he'd seen in vivid detail everything Zoom did to him – to Wally, whom he loved. Though, that sounded silly to be saying he was in love at fourteen, but Bruce was always saying that Dick would mature faster and form deeper relationships with people than other kids his age. The kind of life they lived would do that to you. But, at the same time, he was _only_ fourteen. He didn't know how to deal with something like this.

"I don't think so," he finally answered in a quiet, scared voice, shaking his head slowly.

Bruce took a deep breath and pulled Dick into an awkward but comforting hug, "I'm proud of you. Even if you don't feel like it, you've handled all of this better than anyone could have expected of you."

Dick didn't realize how much he'd needed to hear that. The last few months, he'd felt so off balance and out of his element that he was afraid he'd been useless to Wally and everyone else. Dick just hugged Bruce back tighter than he probably needed to and let go of it all.

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[The Watchtower

March 26, 02:00 EST]

"Robin told you that Wally doesn't blame you, and neither do I."

"It doesn't matter. Professor Zoom knew who both of you were because of something _I_ wrote! It's still my fault!"

"Iris, honey, you haven't done anything yet."

Wally frowned at the voices, still keeping his eyes shut. It sounded like his aunt and uncle talking, but Aunt Iris' voice was off – like she was…crying?

" _It doesn't matter!_ " her voice suddenly rose hysterically, "I know better right _now_! I know that Zoom is a time traveler, and I _know_ he uses my book to hurt you and Wally! How could I ever write it knowing that?!"

Wally opened his eyes groggily and looked around in alarm. The first thing he saw was Earth spinning slowly in the deep black of space. He allowed himself to be mesmerized by the tranquil pace and the stars all around it before realizing that he was looking through one of the Watchtower's windows. He flexed his bandaged fingers and felt soft sheets beneath him. Wait – where was Dick? He twisted his head around and found that he was lying in a small bed by himself facing the wall. The rest of the room stretched on behind him, and Wally rolled over to see it better.

It was unfamiliar and sparsely furnished, only containing a bed, dresser, a small TV in one corner, and a couple chairs. Wally guessed that this must be his uncle's quarters. It didn't look very lived in, so Wally figured he must not spend a lot of time here. He spotted his aunt and uncle on the other side of the room, huddled close together.

"Iris, if there's only one thing I've learned in my time as the Flash, it's that the future isn't set in stone. Nothing is certain, alright?" Uncle Barry was crouched in front of Aunt Iris, who was sitting on the floor against the wall with her knees drawn up to her chest. He brushed her hair behind her ears. "We don't even know if that was a real book or not."

Aunt Iris had her face buried in her hands, and when she looked up, Wally saw that her eyes were bright red and streaming tears, "But why would he bother?"

Wally immediately kicked off the blankets and silently rolled out of bed, stumbling a little on jelly legs.

"Babe, he's crazy," Uncle Barry said soothingly. "He would do or say anything to hurt Wally and me. And we don't know the full story either. It hasn't happened yet."

"I don't need to know it," Wally spoke up, startling both his aunt and uncle, who hadn't known he was awake yet. He knelt down next to Aunt Iris and smiled at her tiredly, "I'm not ever going to need to know if Zoom was lying or not, because I know you'd never do anything to hurt me."

His aunt only started crying harder, and she leaned forward to wrap both arms around him, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Wally."

"Nothin to be sorry about," he mumbled into her shoulder, his throat tightening a little and his eyes starting to burn. Wally glanced to the side and saw Uncle Barry watching them with an upset, half smile. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, reveling in how _safe_ he felt just being in the same room as his family.

Aunt Iris finally released him after a few minutes once she managed to get a grip on her emotions, miserably wiping the tears from her face, "I'm so happy you're okay and you're here."

"Me too," Wally said shakily, sniffing once to hold back his own tears. He really couldn't stand seeing his aunt cry like that, and he was already having a hard enough time keeping his composure. He'd always built up a mask when he was feeling vulnerable, which was a big part of how he'd kept his dad's abuse a secret. The mask made him feel stronger than he was, and it gave him a door to close on everything when the lies and insecurity threatened to overwhelm him.

Wally turned back to his uncle and had almost finished constructing the mask when he locked eyes with Uncle Barry. They weren't two different colors. They weren't filled with manic hatred for him. They were calm and a little hesitant, but they were the same shade of blue they'd always been. He couldn't figure out why at first until he noticed how much Uncle Barry was keeping his distance.

They'd all seen his memories. Uncle Barry had seen how Zoom had disfigured his own face to look like him; he was worried that his presence would remind Wally of Zoom and that he wouldn't want to be around him anymore. Horrified at letting his uncle think that for even a second longer, Wally reached out for him, and Uncle Barry had him crushed in an embrace before the movement was completed.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there," Uncle Barry said in a choked voice. "I should've been the one to take you running that day. If I'd been there…none of this would have happened to you."

"Can everyone stop apologizing for a minute?" Wally clung to his uncle tightly, feeling a massive wave of calm wash over him. He'd been eagerly waiting to see him since he escaped. "I don't blame you either."

Uncle Barry gave a short laugh, pulling back and ruffling Wally's hair with a relieved grin, "How are you feeling?"

"Physically? Or mentally?" He asked half-jokingly, trying to relieve some of the tension in the room.

"Let's start with physically," Aunt Iris reached out and smoothed a thumb along the skin under Wally's eyes. He imagined that he had some pretty dark circles there.

"Well, I was pretty tired earlier, but I feel okay now," he half shrugged, testing how his body was doing. "I've actually got some energy."

"You should," Uncle Barry nodded. "You slept for twelve hours."

Wally's eyes widened in shock. Geez…

"Does anything hurt?" his aunt continued her mothering, putting one hand on Wally's forehead and inspecting his bandaged fingers. "Does anything feel wrong? Dr. Mid-Nite should have fixed everything, but I want to make sure."

"No, I feel great," he put on a huge, fake grin to reassure them. Uncle Barry fixed him with a doubtful, semi-suspicious stare, so Wally studiously ignored him and made a big show of patting himself down for injuries, "I don't even – I can't tell where I was hurt anymore."

"Hal said you healed faster than he'd ever seen you heal before," Aunt Iris chewed at her bottom lip anxiously. Being faster wasn't always a good thing.

"And we both saw your memories," Uncle Barry added with a curious but impressed expression. "You healed almost instantly. Do you know what caused it?"

"Yeah…" Wally said after a few seconds. "I just…let go of everything. I stopped caring about what my dad thought, and then it was like this block that I've had on my powers forever was just _gone_. _And_ , I actually vibrated through stuff! Did you see?"

"I did," his uncle laughed, slowly shaking his head side to side. "Always knew you could do it. You just needed to believe in yourself."

"I do now," Wally took a deep breath and looked at both his aunt and uncle seriously. He wasn't lying for their benefit; he really meant it. "I'm one hundred percent over anything my dad's ever done to me. He can't control me anymore."

Uncle Barry didn't say anything for a minute; he looked like he was getting a little choked up. Wally felt a hand close around the back of his neck, and then his uncle was pulling him into a one-armed hug, "I'm so proud of you."

Wally froze, and he felt a painful knot form in his chest. He'd been waiting so long to hear that.

"I know the last thing you probably want to think about is anything even remotely dad related," he continued carefully. "But when this is all over, if you ever want a father figure, you know I'm here, right? If you want to think of me that way…"

Wally scratched at his jawline in embarrassment, looking away from his uncle and inadvertently at Aunt Iris, who was trying to hide a knowing smile, "I kind of already do…"

He felt Uncle Barry's arm stiffen at the admission and heard him clear his throat a second later. When he spoke, his voice sounded strained and tight with emotion, "Right… Well, um, how are you doing mentally then?"

Wally's mood changed drastically, and his whole body went cold. He sat back on the floor away from his aunt and uncle who both watched him curiously. Heavy shame built up in him, and it took a few long minutes before Wally could look his family in the eyes, "You watched my memories, right? I think I killed a few people…"

"You didn't," Uncle Barry said quickly in alarm. "You're talking about when you set off that bomb in the base. You didn't kill anyone, Wally."

"But…" he said shakily. "There were so many people there…and I don't think I waited long enough to detonate the-"

"No, sweetie," Aunt Iris crawled over to him and curled an arm around his shoulders. "Listen to your uncle."

Uncle Barry seemed to be in the same rush to reassure him, which Wally was immensely grateful for, "Captain Atom, Superman, and Martian Manhunter all searched the entire Manhunter base. They didn't find a single body in the rubble or traces of any remains. No one was killed. The only thing they found was an entire army of destroyed Manhunters. Everyone else escaped."

"But, Zoom," Wally insisted. He _knew_ that he'd badly hurt Professor Zoom. He'd seen it himself. "I saw him get buried by that wall I exploded."

"Martian Manhunter said they looked everywhere for him, but the three of them couldn't find anything except a set of tracks leading away from the blast site," Uncle Barry was angry, looking at something miles away for a second. He shook it off and stared at Wally grimly. "Professor Zoom is still alive. I'm sorry…"

Wally's spine shuddered in response, but he kept his expression closed off. He was relieved that he hadn't killed Zoom, but he didn't want him to be on the loose either, "And they didn't find my dad? I didn't see him at all when I was escaping."

Uncle Barry shook his head regretfully, "Nothing. Captain Atom found some heavy traces of boom tube radiation at the lower levels though, so we think that's how they all made such a quick getaway."

"What about those three speedsters?" Wally was starting to lose it. They _had_ to be lying to him. Too much had happened for his hands to be completely clean in this. "Two of them were unconscious when I was through with them, and the girl – Christina – she burst into flames!"

"Blue Trinity."

"What?" he frowned.

"That's what they're called. They turned up in our investigation when we were looking for you. A man named Dr. Orloff gave them their powers, and he told us everything about them," Uncle Barry explained calmly. "Their names are Boleslaw Uminski, Gregor Gregorovich, and Christina Alexandrova. Both of the men are alive; Martian Manhunter pulled everything we might need from their minds, and then we shipped them back to Orloff and Red Trinity. That's the other speedster trio who helped us. We're going to have to make a trip out to see them when this is over. They were very helpful, and Robin says they're big fans."

"What about Christina…?" Wally almost didn't hear the rest of what his uncle said.

Uncle Barry's eyes tightened, and his eyebrows drew together sadly, "She's dead."

Wally lost it. He scrambled back and grabbed fistfuls of his hair, "I knew it! I did something wrong when I was running – I had to! I'm not used to running that fast, and… I burned her alive somehow! I went too fast, and something in my wake-"

"Whoa, calm down!" Uncle Barry tried to quiet him, but Wally just kept babbling on until Aunt Iris wrapped both arms around his head and cradled him against her chest. She smoothed his hair away from his face as he vibrated wildly in distress. Uncle Barry took both his arms and moved so he was right in front of him, "Wally, I already told you that you didn't kill anyone. Alexandrova wasn't your fault either. It was her suit. Orloff told Robin that both Red and Blue Trinity can't survive at high speeds without their special suits. The friction will burn them alive if there's a large enough breach in the fabric."

Wally was still breathing in erratic gasps, unable to fully grasp his uncle's words.

"She was tearing her suit apart to bind Gregorovich and Uminski's injuries, remember? She knew that running at those speeds would kill her. _You_ had no way of knowing that. It was her choice to chase you anyways. Do you get that? Nothing that you did caused her death. It wasn't your fault."

"You're not lying to make me feel better?" Wally asked nervously, still shivering uncontrollably.

"I'd never lie to you," Uncle Barry shook his head patiently, even pressing one hand to his heart sincerely. "None of this was your fault. You didn't kill anyone, and even if you _had_ , it would've been self-defense. You were only trying to survive."

Wally clamped his jaw shut and exhaled sharply through his nose, feeling his eyes burning with tears of relief. He'd been so worried that he'd killed someone…

"It's okay, Kid," his uncle rubbed his back. "You have to stop holding this all in, or you're going to have a meltdown. Just let it go, alright? It's just your aunt and I here. You know we love you, and you can trust us. Just let it go."

And, so he did. Wally shed it all layer by layer, starting with the very first time his dad had hit him. He didn't suppress anything – didn't hold anything back. Wally didn't try to hide anything from his aunt and uncle. He told them everything without having to worry about them hating him for it. They didn't judge him, and Uncle Barry didn't fire him from being Kid Flash like he'd always feared. As he talked, he felt this tremendous weight lift off of him that he hadn't even been aware was there in the first place. It just kept breaking away piece by piece, leaving Wally feeling lighter than he had in years, until the burden was gone.


	22. Chapter 22

[The Watchtower

March 26, 13:00 EST]

Somehow, Wally's life had turned around one hundred eighty degrees overnight. He went from being an abused kid forced to lie to the people he respected and looked up to most in the world to a hero. Word had spread about how he risked his life to destroy the Manhunter base, and since then, almost every member of the Justice League had come up to him to say congratulations, mess up his hair a little, and tell him how impressed they were.

It was extremely weird.

Logically, Wally knew that he had saved the League from that battalion of Manhunters, but he'd never expected any recognition for it. He was more than a little tired of being in the spotlight, so he was ready for it all to be over. Uncle Barry had done his best to field most of the Leaguers, but some would not be denied. John Stewart and Hawkwoman were two of the most adamant visitors.

John came with Hal the very next day. He'd immediately slapped Wally roughly on the back – after Uncle Barry pried Wally out of Hal's unrelenting bear hug – and declared that he was toeing the line. After Wally had asked what he meant, John playfully accused him of trying to make the Green Lantern Corps look bad by taking out all those Manhunters by himself.

They hadn't stayed very long. The map he'd brought back had allowed the Corps and the League to locate every single Manhunter base on the planet. He'd been told by Hal and John that they were mounting a full assault on the bases and were already a third of the way finished clearing them out. And, most importantly, everyone was getting vital experience fighting real Manhunters.

Hawkwoman came alone. Wally wasn't as familiar with her as he was with a lot of the other League members. He'd actually hit on her the very first time they met, which had earned him _two_ whacks with an Nth metal mace – one from Shayera…and one from her husband…

Regardless, she'd apparently found his spunkiness charming, because she often tossed him winks on the rare occasions when her missions overlapped with the Team's. She also liked to hang out with John a lot, so she gave Wally combat tips when they saw each other. She'd even managed to pull Wally into the 'kill' contest she had going – which she'd explained was wins against villains. His own count wasn't too terribly pathetic, since a lot of his tallies were tied to takedowns that he'd done with his uncle, but it was nowhere near hers or Hawkman's. And, that was what she'd come to see him about. The whole Manhunter base thing had skyrocketed his count _way_ above hers, and she'd tried to contend it, which was a moot point, because _no_ , blowing up all those Manhunters absolutely did _not_ only count as one point.

Once she'd left, Aunt Iris had tried to make him rest some more and take it easy. Wally understood why, seeing as he'd spent the last few months in mortal danger. But, confessing everything and deciding to continue his life free from the darkness of his past had filled him with excited energy, and Wally couldn't handle being cooped up in one room any longer.

He rested his chin on his forearms as he stared out the window at Earth, leg jumping up and down restlessly. Oh, he wanted to run. It really was _not_ cool for a speedster to be restricted like this. Normally, his fidgeting drove his aunt crazy, but she hadn't told him to stop even once yet. Wally guessed that she was still feeling too guilty to reprimand him, despite him and Uncle Barry telling her over and over that she wasn't to blame. He really hoped things got back to normal soon, because there were several things he really shouldn't be allowed to get away with.

Almost right on cue, the door slid open with a soft noise, and Wally turned in time to see Uncle Barry walk in. He'd left an hour ago to check in with the League and had probably spent a good deal of that time being hounded by Dick for news on Wally. Apparently, the boy wonder was getting impatient to see him again, because almost every single visitor had brought a message from him with them. Dick was under the false impression that Wally was no longer being allowed visitors. Wally had frantically begged his uncle to say that Aunt Iris didn't want anyone else to see him until he got more rest, because he wasn't quite ready to face his best friend yet.

Dick knew that Wally was in love with him. He'd seen his memories, which meant that he saw Professor Zoom say that. It hadn't occurred to Wally that the League would let Dick watch his memories too, so he hadn't worried about it until he found out. Now, he had no idea what he was going to say to Dick. He could lie and pretend that Zoom had gotten it wrong, but too many weird things had happened between him and Dick the last few weeks for the boy wonder to believe that. He could own up to it and just confess, but that possibility left a horrifying amount of room for their entire friendship to be destroyed.

So, he was hiding.

His aunt and uncle had been surprisingly cool about it. Neither one had mentioned Dick beyond the fact that he kept asking to see Wally, but he knew that they'd both seen his memories. They were both pretty laid back about most controversial topics and tended to be open-minded about a lot of things, so Wally hadn't spent a lot of energy worrying about them hating him for how he felt about Dick. But, he'd thought that one of them would have mentioned it by now. They were probably just respecting his silence and waiting for him to feel comfortable enough to bring it up.

Either way, Wally greatly appreciated the space.

"You up for some exercise, Kid?" Uncle Barry asked with his Midwestern drawl and one of the easiest smiles Wally had seen on him since he escaped. He held up one hand, twirling a pair of bright red goggles around his finger, and tossed a bundle of something at him lightning fast. Wally lurched forward to catch it, puzzling over his uncle's words until he realized what was in his hands.

His costume…

Wally's eyes flew open wide, and he gripped the red and yellow fabric convulsively. A wide grin spread across his face, and he turned the uniform over in his hands until he found the lightning bolt logo stamped on the chest. Man, he couldn't wait to be Kid Flash again. He knew he hadn't really _stopped_ , but it would be great to actually put on the costume again – to feel like himself again.

"Are you kidding?!" Wally asked like it was the stupidest question in the world. He zipped into the connecting bathroom, changed into the costume, and dashed back out again before Aunt Iris had finished typing one word in the article she was writing. "I'm like _dying_ in here!"

It was a poor choice of words, and everyone in the room flinched a little, but Uncle Barry shook off the surprise and grinned again as Wally was internally cringing at the slip up. He tossed over the goggles, "Then, let's get going. I'm anxious to have my favorite partner at my side again."

Wally beamed. He jammed the goggles over his head and dashed towards the door, pulling up short at the last second with a confused frown. His uncle made it sound like they were going on patrol. "Wait, I can't leave the Watchtower, remember? If my dad's still alive, then he could track me down."

"We're not going planetside," Uncle Barry gave Aunt Iris a quick kiss when she looked up from her article to wave them off with a fond smile. He pulled on the cowl to his costume and guided Wally out into the hallway. "The Watchtower has a gym, you know."

"A _gym_?" Wally made a face. He flexed his shoulders and tested the tightness of his uniform thoughtfully. It was a bit looser than normal, but overall he was almost back to his original weight. His muscle tone still left something to be desired though…

"Yep," Uncle Barry elbowed him playfully in the ribs. "I think it's about time you worked out how to vibrate through something without making it explode. You ready to learn?"

"Seriously?!" Wally grinned excitedly, already feeling his body start to hum in anticipation.

"Unless you don't think you can handle it," His uncle nodded with a teasing wink. "Now…how about a race?"

Wally perked up then, about to protest the verbal jab when he heard the word 'race'. He hadn't had the chance to test out his new speed against Uncle Barry's since he'd had his revelation. "Last one there has to tell Trickster that his pants look ridiculous."

His uncle laughed and assumed a runner's stance, "You're on."

Wally mimicked him, crouching into a similar pose with his fingertips brushing the floor, "On three?"

For some reason, Uncle Barry had an uncharacteristically mischievous expression on his face. Wally puzzled over it for an instant but couldn't figure it out. His smile was just a little too suppressed – like he was trying not to – and there was definitely a devious glint to his eyes, "One…Two… _Three_!"

At the same time, both speedsters launched forwards into a full-on sprint through the Watchtower's corridors. They couldn't go top speed obviously, because they were on a satellite, and that would've been really catastrophic. But, even so, Wally felt a noticeable difference. He was actually keeping up with his uncle for the very first time, matching him step for step and rocketing around corners at the exact same second.

He was having a blast, finally feeling like he and his uncle were in perfect sync – that is, until he realized that he had no Watchtowerly idea how to get to the gym. Uncle Barry _did_. And that's why he'd been smirking earlier… Holy crap, what a cheater! It soon became apparent when his uncle started faking him out with false turns that had Wally skidding to a stop and doubling back to catch up with him again. He was eventually forced to hang back half a second and let his uncle lead him there unchallenged.

The worst part was that Uncle Barry kept laughing uncontrollably the _whole_ way. They reached the final stretch in seconds, and Wally could see the word 'Gym' printed on the bulkhead. Then, he really turned on the jets. He pushed the muscles in his legs and managed to close most of the gap between them even as Uncle Barry grinned at him over his shoulder. Wally was within touching distance when his uncle vibrated right through the double doors and disappeared. Wally gaped in open disbelief at the spot his uncle had last been, slowing down enough to burst through the doors without destroying them.

When he got to the other side, he found Uncle Barry waiting for him with his arms crossed and one foot tapping away in teasing impatience. There was a smug grin on his face, and he was, irritatingly enough, breathing completely normally. Wally was a little pleased to find that he was also barely winded from the race but not enough to pass up calling his uncle out on his crap, "Not cool! That was totally underhanded!"

"Hey, I _told_ you where we were going," Uncle Barry laughed, holding his hands up in defense. "Not my fault you didn't say 'Oh no! Uncle Barry, I don't know where that is!' It just seems like poor strategy to me…"

"I don't sound like that!" Wally smacked his arm, trying to look intimidating while his uncle was too busy laughing at him to defend himself. "And, you're a cheater!"

"Fine," Uncle Barry conceded with a nod. "Just be sure to tell Trickster that the rest of him is just as ridiculous. Honestly, it's embarrassing. I need to find some better villains."

"Have you ever heard anything more absurd in your whole life?" A voice spoke suddenly, startling Wally into forgetting what he'd been about to say. "Someone _wishing_ for more dangerous villains…"

"Not more dangerous," Uncle Barry corrected casually. "Just _better_. I'd like at least _some_ challenge every now and then."

Wally frowned, turning in a circle to look for who had spoken. That's when he spotted both Jay and Max by the far wall shaking their heads disapprovingly at Uncle Barry.

"Back in my day, you shut your mouth and counted your lucky stars when your villains gave you a break from fighting both _them_ and the Nazis," Jay said in a fake grumble, smiling broadly right at Wally. He was in a wheelchair, covered in bandages and with two casts on his legs, but he was _alive_. Beside him, Max looked mostly untouched except for the way he was leaning heavily on the wall.

Uncle Barry rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but Wally ran to them immediately. He collided into Max at a dead run and felt the older speedster wrap both arms around him like an iron vice. Wally squeezed Max's middle as tight as he could, grinning like a fool and completely unable to help it. He'd been told that both Max and Jay were alive and well, but it was one thing to hear it and another entirely to actually see them in person.

Max pushed him out to arm's length after a minute and looked at Wally with a mixture of severity and stern happiness. He was just about to say something when Wally was suddenly jerked to the side and trapped by one of Jay's arms.

"Quit hogging my grandson," he tugged Wally down into an awkward, stooped over sort of embrace, and Wally was careful to avoid touching his legs as he hugged him back. Then, Jay grabbed a fistful of Wally's costume and shoved a finger into his face, wrinkled blue eyes hard and icy with disapproval. "You and I need to have a talk, young man."

Startled by the flip in demeanor, Wally stared back in blank confusion, "About what?"

"About you listening to me when I tell you to get the hell outta Dodge when we're fighting a losing battle," Jay growled sternly.

Oh.

Wally shook his head in response, making a face at how stupid that sounded, "I wasn't going to leave you and Max to die. No way."

He'd meant it lightheartedly, but that only seemed to make Max and Jay even angrier. Max limped forward and put a hand on Wally's shoulder, "Jay was trying to buy you time to escape, and you wasted it."

"It wasn't going to happen," Wally took a step back from them, frowning stubbornly when he realized that they were serious. " _You_ almost drowned, and Jay was fighting three against one!"

"It _is_ going to happen," Jay shot back just as obstinately. "You're sixteen. Do you know how old I am? I'm ninety-two, Wally. I've had plenty of time to decide how I want to die, and I want to go out protecting my family. And that's _you_ , and Barry, and Joan, and Iris, and sometimes Max here when he's not being irritating. The point is, if anything like this ever happens again, I expect you to listen to what I say. You run when I tell you to run, is that clear?"

Wally wanted to say that, no, it wasn't clear. He didn't understand leaving anyone behind to die. Why wasn't _he_ allowed to try and defend his family like everyone else?

Jay's expression softened, and he suddenly looked very old and sad, "I'm not just trying to bust your chops, kid. I love you like family, and I don't ever want to see Zoom with his hands around your throat ever again. That really scared me."

Wally dropped his eyes and looked down at his boots.

"Who's going to carry on the legacy if you get taken out before you're even eighteen?" Max crossed his arms when Wally didn't immediately respond.

"I don't know. Uncle Barry?" he said evasively. Wally didn't really want to give in so easily, but he couldn't think of a good argument in his favor. That brought another thought to him, though. Who _would_ carry it on after all the existing speedsters were gone? They didn't know yet whether or not their powers could be passed on to children, and there hadn't been any freak accidents resulting in superspeed since his own six years ago. Professor Zoom had talked about something called the Speed Force. Maybe that had something to do with it. "Johnny Quick?"

"Johnny isn't the same kind of speedster as the rest of us," Uncle Barry walked up to them. "He uses his equation to channel superspeed and so does his daughter."

Jay nodded in agreement and caught Wally's attention again, "I need you to promise me that you'll listen to me and run if we're ever in a situation like that again."

Wally stared down at him reluctantly, feeling pins and needles all over, "I can't."

_"Wally."_

"I'm sorry," he cut in quickly, truly apologetic at not being able to say yes. "I'm not ever going to leave someone behind to save myself. I can't do that."

"Save your breath, Jay," Uncle Barry rested a hand on Wally's shoulder fondly. "He's too brave to stop being dumb about this."

Wally looked up and saw his uncle smiling back at him, but he still wasn't sure if that was a compliment or an insult.

"Brave and stubborn," Max grumbled unhappily giving Wally a disgruntled sort of look. "That's a terrible combination."

Wally just shrugged. There wasn't really all that much he could do about it.

At that, Max seemed to lighten up a little, but Jay continued to stare at him sternly. He didn't look at all satisfied with Wally's answer, but after a moment he sighed and actually cracked a small smile, "I'm not going to get you to listen to me, am I?"

Wally shook his head ruefully, "Probably not."

"Well," Jay leaned back in the wheelchair with a grunt, flexing his spine with a series of pops and cracks. "I guess the only thing to do then is make sure you know your stuff. I heard you're having trouble phasing through objects."

Uncle Barry gave a short laugh and shook Wally's shoulder playfully, "Yeah – without making them blow up."

Wally shrugged him off and rolled his eyes, turning a little red, "Whatever. I think it's cool."

"Yes, until you need to phase through something _without_ making it explode," Max didn't indulge him to let him save face.

"I didn't say that I don't want to learn," Wally averted his eyes with a mumble.

"Good, because between the three of us, we should have enough experience to help you figure it out," Max pushed off from the wall and limped his way to the middle of the gym where someone had set up what looked like an obstacle course of makeshift walls and barriers of all different types. He laid his hand on the first wall – a crudely made, six foot high cement partition – and looked back at Wally. "Barry told us about the substances you tried vibrating through when you were escaping, so we're gonna start with those."

Wally zipped across the room to the wall and started inspecting it. The cement was roughly half a foot thick but looked pretty manageable. Several meters beyond it, though, was a much taller metal barrier with a third glass one behind _that_. He zipped back to the front beside Max and Uncle Barry, "What do you want me to do? Just try to vibrate through each one?"

"Essentially," Uncle Barry nodded. "But first, tell us how you felt when you were phasing through things. Was there any time that it was harder than the others? Did it get easier as you went along?"

"Uhh…" Wally thought hard to remember how exactly it went down. "I hardly even felt the zip ties at all. I don't know if it's because they were so thin or what, but the glass was totally different. _That_ hurt the worst out of anything. It felt like the glass molecules were stabbing through my own."

"That sounds like you weren't vibrating fast enough," Uncle Barry frowned pensively.

"The metal was a little better, but not by much," Wally continued. "It still kinda felt like I was trying to phase through knives, but I was so hopped up on adrenaline that I think that's why I didn't notice it as much. Like – the second time I went through glass, I didn't really feel it at all."

He glanced sideways at the wall standing innocently next to him and couldn't help but feel like it was imposing. A little shudder went up his spine, and he focused back on Max and his uncle, "Going through concrete was like dragging my arm over a cheese grater… But that time, I know for sure that I did something wrong. Zoom was chasing me, and I couldn't stop panicking enough to control it."

Uncle Barry looked alarmed at that, "You've got to be really careful with that. If you drop your concentration too much, you could wind up getting stuck in something _or_ taking something with you. That's how you ended up with particles of concrete in your blood."

He remembered that feeling very well and wasn't anxious for a repeat.

"So, you're gonna try this _without_ any adrenaline. No one's chasing you or trying to kill you," his uncle pointed at the concrete wall. "I just want you to stay calm, take your time, and give it your best shot. Okay?"

Wally nodded, taking a deep breath in anticipation, "Yup."

"Just go through the first wall and get ready to take cover in case it blows," Max took a few steps back to give him some room. "Give us a pause before you go so that we can get a read on your frequency."

"Got it," Wally squared off with the wall, stretching his legs in preparation and cracking his neck side to side. He snuck a glance at the three _far_ more experienced speedsters out of the corner of his eye. They were all watching him.

Excellent… No pressure or anything.

He exhaled heavily and started vibrating at a low hum, feeling his limit almost immediately. Frustration crackled up within him, and he grit his teeth. This wasn't anywhere near fast enough. Come on; don't do this in front of Uncle Barry and Max and Jay. That would be humiliating.

Wally took another calming breath and pushed himself faster. Okay, you can do this. You did it before. Remember all of the things that helped you figure it out back in Siberia. Confidence. Anger. Desperation. Dick Grayson.

A pleasantly awful nausea spread through him at the thought of his best friend, but he shook it off. He knew _that_ particular confrontation was on its way, and he still hadn't decided yet whether to fess up or deny the whole thing.

The limit disappeared, and Wally felt exhilarating power rush into his limbs. He sped up his vibrations to the frequency he'd used before and then kept it steady for Uncle Barry to get a read on him. His mentor frowned a little in response but waved him on anyway.

Wally charged at the wall, throwing his arms out in preparation to physically shove against it, but he didn't encounter any resistance at all. He stepped right through the concrete like it wasn't even there. He came out the other side off balance and stumbling to regain his footing before he toppled over. Behind him, the wall was silent, and he almost thought he'd done it before he heard Max yell to him.

"You'd better take cover, Wally."

When he looked over his shoulder at the wall, he could see it going critical mass. He darted around to take shelter behind the dark metal barrier in time to hear the concrete explode with a roar like thunder. Big chunks of debris pelted the metal, ringing out in a cacophony. He waited until the worst of it had settled down before poking his head around to inspect the damage.

Most of the wall was gone – torn open by a gaping hole right where he'd walked through. Wally moved back out and found that neither Max nor Uncle Barry had budged an inch. They'd probably just let the debris phase right through them. He sighed heavily and kicked a nearby hunk of rock, sending it tumbling quietly across the floor, "Fail…"

Uncle Barry whistled in awe, "That's really something to see. I don't think the explosions were that violent in your memories."

Wally cocked his head in confusion right as Max came up to lay a hand on the remaining edge of the wall. He looked equally astounded by the wreckage, "You didn't tell us it was this bad, Barry."

Wally felt his face heat up, and he straightened his posture to minimize it.

"Yes I did," Uncle Barry came over and slung an arm around Wally's neck with a light chuckle. He felt some of the embarrassment lift away. His uncle almost sounded a little proud? "I just…kind of underestimated the force a little bit."

"What are you talking about?" Wally asked, at a loss.

"It looks like you're doing it naturally…" Max mused, still surveying the extent of the rubble. "But I've never seen myself, Barry, or Jay deal that much damage making something explode. It's usually a small explosion localized around whatever we touched. And we have to _try_ to make that happen."

"Really?" Wally blinked in surprise. "So, what – I'm backwards or something?"

"It just means you need to learn in reverse," Max waved off his alarm casually. "You're naturally inciting the molecules to go critical when most speedsters have to consciously try to do it. We just have to get you to regulate your frequency."

"Did you feel any pain going through the concrete?" Uncle Barry asked.

"No," Wally shook his head. "I barely even felt it this time, but I was concentrating one hundred percent."

"Your vibrations were way too fast," Jay called over from the other side of the room. "Try slowing down just a little when you go through the metal. You're going much faster than you need to."

"Alright," Wally turned to face the malformed titanium wall and began vibrating just a little slower than before. "How's this?"

The shuddering movements distorted his voice, making his words almost indecipherable, but it didn't seem to bother Max or Uncle Barry any. They gave him the thumbs up, and Wally tackled the wall with the same approach he'd used against the concrete.

Immediately, he could feel his palms slam into the metal with a dull thud. This time, he met with resistance. It was faint and didn't hurt at all, but Wally could definitely feel his body sliding through the metal. He dragged his limbs completely through the wall like he was walking through water and emerged unharmed. Prepared this time, Wally sped around the wall to Uncle Barry's side and watched as the wide metal wall rippled out from the center in unstable waves.

There was the loud, screeching sound of metal tearing apart, and then jagged shards of metal were ejected from the main structure. Most of the shrapnel fell short and clattered harmlessly along the floor, and the few pieces that went whistling past them were easy to dodge. Max snatched a particularly sharp one right out of the air and started examining it immediately with a frown.

"That didn't make any difference…" Wally could hear his uncle muse beside him. He looked over to see him staring at the twisted, brutalized metal with narrowed eyes as he tried to work out the puzzle in his head. "How did it feel?"

"Still didn't hurt," Wally answered honestly. "But it was harder to vibrate through this time."

Max tossed aside the piece of metal with a puzzled shrug and gestured to the remaining few walls, "Try it again. Barry, this time, I want you to go through with him and let him match the frequency you use."

"Sounds like a plan," Uncle Barry patted Wally on the back and grinned down at him. "You ready for another go?"

He shook off the disappointment of a second failure and nodded. This was a work in progress, and it wasn't gonna be solved in two tries. He took a deep breath and matched his uncle's confident grin with one of his own, "Let's do it."

They both darted towards the unpolished glass wall in unison, Uncle Barry veering around both destroyed walls while Wally leapt through the gashes he'd created. He waited half a heartbeat for his uncle to set the frequency and then did his best to mimic it. Sensing speed had never been one of his strongest skills before – all speedsters had an innate feel for it, but Wally had never been able to beat a radar speed gun in accuracy or tell where on Earth another speedster was just by feeling for their aura.

But ever since he'd obliterated the block on his powers, it was much easier. Wally adjusted his vibrations until he thought he'd nailed it and then glanced over at Uncle Barry for confirmation. His uncle gave a sharp nod and signaled for him to run. This frequency was close to half as fast as Wally had gone the first time, but he ignored how wrong it felt and followed his uncle.

They both sprinted at the glass full speed and reached it at the same time. Uncle Barry phased right through with zero visible difficulty and immediately came to a dead stop on the other side, turning to the spot where Wally would have been… if he'd gone through the wall correctly.

The instant that he connected with the glass, Wally felt billions of glass molecules cutting through his own like razors. The pain was so intense that he backpedaled and violently threw himself backwards away from the wall. He landed flat on his back in blind agony, cracking his head on the floor and gasping with shuddering spasms. It felt like the molecules had grabbed onto him like fish hooks, unforgiving and tearing at him when he pulled back. He forced his eyes open into slits when he heard the sound of cracks rapidly spider-webbing across the wall.

The glass now looked frosted because of all the fractures running through it and mere moments away from combusting. Wally tried to throw his arms in front of his face to protect it, but the shock of the pain only allowed them to curl up partially at the elbows. He hunched his shoulders to guard his neck, closed his eyes, and braced for impact.

Something grabbed him up from the floor right as the glass shattered. Wally could hear the high-pitched sound of small objects shooting by his head and feel the stomach jerking jolt of being carried at superspeed at the same time. One heartbeat later, he was upright and crushed against the bright red fabric of his uncle's chest, clutching his arm for balance and struggling to put his legs back under himself.

" _Wally!_ Are you alright?! What happened?"

He opened his eyes, still shaking from the aftershocks, and found Uncle Barry staring at him in frantic concern, one arm around him and using his whole body as a shield. Wally started to stutter an answer when he saw two large shards of glass sticking out of his uncle's shoulder and side. He'd run right into the blast radius to pull Wally to safety and had taken a couple hits for him.

Max was there an instant later, supporting Wally with one arm until his legs steadied and yanking both of the shards out of Uncle Barry's skin in a blur of motion, "Talk to us, Wally. Are you hurt?"

" _He's_ hurt!" Wally managed to gasp out, gesturing to his uncle's ripped uniform.

" _I'm_ fine," Uncle Barry said dismissively and moved his shoulder to show him. The wounds were already closed and only dotted with a few droplets of red. He'd healed even before he had time to bleed. "Captain Boomerang hits harder than this. Now, tell me what happened."

Wally had to tear his eyes away from his uncle's side before he could answer, "I – uh – that was too slow…"

"What do you mean?" Max started checking him over for visible injuries. Behind him, Wally could see Jay wheeling himself over with a concerned look on his face.

"It hurt a lot," he tried to come up with the right words to explain it. "The other times weren't that bad. This felt more like the glass was going through _me_ instead of the other way around if that makes any sense."

Uncle Barry nodded his understanding, but Max seemed to be in his own little world, working through the problem on his own with speed thinking – another little trick Wally had yet to master. Jay reached them quickly and made Wally run through a few tests to see if he'd accidentally sucked in any glass particles into his bloodstream just to be safe, "I don't understand. If you were going the same speed as Barry, then why didn't it work? That reaction was more violent than the first two."

That started an intense brainstorming session between the four of them. Uncle Barry, Max, and Jay were no doubt thinking of possible explanations for why it wasn't working, and Wally was too. He was just…going down a different path with it. The pain of that last try had reminded him of Professor Zoom and the day he'd tortured him for information about the Justice League – just for a little bit of extra fun.

Wally looked over at his mentor nervously, stomach churning with anxiety, "What if…Professor Zoom did something to me when he…y'know…tortured me? Like when he vibrated his hand into my chest. Could he have screwed up my powers somehow?"

 _That_ caught everyone's attention. Max and Jay stared at him in concerned surprise, but Uncle Barry seemed to be physically pained by the mention of Wally's torture. His blue eyes turned protective, and he shook his head firmly, "No. If he'd done anything to your powers, then your aura would be different, but it's the same as always – a little brighter but the same. Zoom isn't able to mess with our speed like that. He's not powerful enough."

Wally breathed easier after hearing that and seeing how sure his uncle was. He stayed close to him while Jay and Max argued over other solutions, coming up empty with each angle they tried.

After a few minutes, Jay threw his arms up in frustration and leaned back tiredly in the wheelchair. Wally noticed that he was way more agitated than usual. He guessed that being stuck in the wheelchair was making it worse. "If it's not a problem with the speed of his vibrations, then what is it? I can't figure it out."

"It _is_ something else…" Max said forcefully, face drawn tight in determination. "We just have to find the problem. Kid, are you up for trying anything we can come up with?"

Wally was eager to solve this once and for all, and the pain was already fading away, so he agreed earnestly, and the tests began.

All in all, there were forty walls total in different shapes and sizes. They quickly found out that the material and thickness of the object didn't matter. The speed of his vibrations only affected whether or not Wally was harmed in the process. It didn't matter if he went through the wall at a sprint or slow and steady. He tried going through by himself and with another speedster. He switched his frequency while he was already inside the walls. Nothing changed the end result. The wall _always_ exploded violently. Every time.

So, with all the logical theories tried and exhausted, they turned to unconventional methods. It began with Uncle Barry trying to cheer him up. Failure after failure had started to take its toll on Wally and was sending him into a sort of depression. He was frustrated and discouraged and tiring out fast. They'd only tried a few more times with Wally vibrating at a slow frequency before Uncle Barry had put his foot down and made him stop, but it still dealt a heavy blow to his stamina.

So, Uncle Barry started suggesting all kinds of ridiculous ideas to lift Wally's spirits. He told him about one of the very first encounters he'd had with Mirror Master back when he was just starting out as the Flash. Mirror Master had used reflections to switch their legs so that he could finally outrun him and commit robberies all over town unchallenged. Uncle Barry had to run on his hands in order to defeat him.

By the time Wally and Jay had finally stopped laughing at the mental image and figuring out if Wally could do handstands, the oppressive mood in the room had vanished. Wally tried phasing through a wall while running on his hands – which backfired, because he ended up dropping right through the floor instead. Then, of course, it blew a huge chasm into the gym floor.

Jay had found that even more hilarious, and even Max cracked a smile once Wally zipped back to the level unharmed, but Uncle Barry went pale and started speed rambling about how Batman was going to kill him for breaking the Watchtower.

They were more careful after that.

The next few hours were spent trying out whatever popped into their heads and recording the data in the Watchtower logs until they ran out of walls. When they were finished, the gym looked like a twister went through it. Wally and his uncle cleaned up all the mess and rubble in ten seconds flat, ending up covered in dust and pulverized concrete.

They hadn't figured out what was wrong with Wally's method, and he was no closer to phasing through anything without absolutely destroying it, but the training session hadn't been a total waste. During all the different tests, he'd discovered the best frequency to use that didn't cause him any pain and still got the job done. He was a little disappointed that the mystery was unsolved, but he understood his powers better, and that meant he was getting there.

Uncle Barry shook grey dust out of his hair with a grin and threw a handful of gravel at Wally, "Alright, Max. What's the final verdict, oh Zen Master of Speed?"

"I have no idea," the grey-haired speedster said grouchily with his arms crossed over his chest almost comically. "The only even remotely decent explanation is that he's using too much power. You, Jay, and I always had the same top speed from the first day we got our powers, so we know the right amount of force to use automatically. But Wally's limit has changed, and he's used to having to push himself as hard as possible just to keep up. I think he's still doing that by default."

"So, I'm stuck on high gear?" Wally sighed, flinging some dirt right back at his uncle.

"Not sure. It's just a small theory," Max rubbed the bridge of his nose and shrugged. "If it _is_ right, then it may just take time. Get used to your new speed, experiment a little, and we'll try this again in a week or so. It's not life or death if we don't figure it out right away, but it _is_ mighty irritating…"

"I dunno," Uncle Barry said skeptically, drawing Wally's attention. "I bet it's just your personality. You're _always_ giving 110% to everything. All the time. That's my favorite thing about you, Kid."

Wally cocked an eyebrow at him suspiciously, "You're just saying that to make me feel better, aren't you?"

"Absolutely," Uncle Barry admitted immediately. He winked at Wally and elbowed him lightly. "But it also happens to be completely true. Don't get discouraged. If we can figure this out eventually, then great! But if not, you're still the only one of us that can blow things up that thoroughly. It's good to have variety in the Flash family."

"You can be our one man bomb squad," Jay teased him.

"Not if I end up looking like _this_ every time," Wally squirmed uncomfortably. How the heck had gravel gotten into his boots? "If we're done, I'm gonna grab a shower."

"Sure," Uncle Barry waved him off. "I think I need one too. You feeling alright after all this?"

"Yeah. Just a little tired. Way better than yesterday."

Jay reached out and snagged Wally's arm before he could speed off, "Joan is on the Watchtower until tomorrow when they discharge me, and she wants to see you. Stop by the mess hall tonight and put her mind at ease for me, will you?"

"I'll be there," he promised and then moved to run. "See ya! Thanks for the help!"

A second later, he stopped suddenly and zipped back to give Max and Jay each a lightning quick hug, "I'm really glad you're both okay."

Then he was gone again, running straight to the communal showers down the hall. They were deserted when he got there, so he just picked a stall and turned on the spray to warm up the water before zipping back to the locker room. Wally pulled the goggles off his head, cringing when a curtain of dirt shook free of his hair. He grabbed a towel off the rack and sat down on a bench to pull off his boots and gloves.

That's when he heard the sound of a ceiling tile being pulled aside and a light body landing on the floor stealthily. Wally immediately shot to his feet and spun around, body going ice cold when he recognized the noise that those particular shoes made. He knew it by heart.

Dick was crouched in the middle of the floor in full uniform, rising up and pulling off his mask after dropping from the air ducts. His piercing blue eyes bored into Wally's, and he looked just as nervous as Wally felt, "We need to talk."


	23. Chapter 23

[The Watchtower

March 26, 15:30 EST]

Wally imagined that he looked an awful lot like a deer in headlights as he stared at his best friend. The terrible thing was, Dick didn't look all that different from _him_ , which meant that this was not going to be a normal conversation. It meant that something was still broken between them, and Dick was aware of it.

Wally stared at him in open shock, reeling still from Dick's sudden appearance. However, Dick seemed to recover much faster. He took a deep breath and straightened up more, showing all the signs of someone about to recite a _very_ well-rehearsed speech. Then he really saw Wally, no doubt taking in the layers of grime and dust covering his face and costume, and his expression turned confused, "Uh…what the heck happened to _you_?"

"Training," Wally answered lamely. He was only just able to get the word out of his paralyzed jaw. "It's sort of a long story…"

"Superman kept saying that he heard all these explosions," Dick began slowly, turning his head slightly. "Was that you?"

"Maybe," he said evasively, putting on his best poker face.

They fell into an awkward silence – Wally shuffling his feet nervously and Dick looking like he was mentally scrambling to remember something. In the distance, the shower was still running, and the noise was deafening to him. He supposed that he could just run for it – shower and change in two seconds flat so Dick couldn't track him and then hide somewhere in the Watchtower until the end of the world.

He didn't know why he hadn't prepared himself for Dick sneaking up on him. Dick did this all the time. The fact that the locker room air ducts were so easily compromised was a little worrying, but his best friend had gotten into tighter spaces before. Wally should have been expecting him to come contorting out of one of the electrical outlets in his uncle's quarters.

In no time at all, Dick looked pulled together again. Oh no. Wally should have taken the pause to escape. Why hadn't he run?

"Have you been avoiding me?" Dick asked immediately, not wasting any more time.

The visibly hurt and confused look on his face twisted a knife in Wally's heart, but he wasn't ready to be honest yet, "What? Why would you think that? No, my aunt just…uh wanted me to sleep. By myself – I mean, without any visitors. Any _more_ visitors. Some of them she couldn't keep away."

"Are you sure?" Dick made a face. "Because I kept asking your uncle if I could see you, and he told me that he didn't think you were ready to talk to me yet."

Oh, holy crap. Uncle Barry was the worst liar in history.

"Uhm…" Wally floundered for a response as Dick's stunning blue eyes started expertly decimating his defenses.

"Please don't lie to me," Dick said sadly, suddenly looking very small.

Wally looked back at him quietly, feeling devastating shame rush in on him. He didn't want to lie to his best friend and couldn't believe he'd thought that was the way to go. "I was avoiding you…"

"Why?" Dick didn't seem put off by the admission. Instead, it looked like he was encouraged – terrified, but encouraged.

He was probably freaked out over what he saw in Wally's memories and was hoping to clear things up right now. Oh no, if the conversation kept going down this road, he was going to have to tell Dick the truth. Crap. Wally ran a hand through his dirty hair and tried to stop shaking. Well, if it was going to happen, then it might as well be on his terms. He took a deep breath and plunged right in.

"I didn't really want to talk about this," he explained, his insides writhing with antsy energy. He got right to the point. "About what you saw in my memories with Zoom, right?"

Now, Dick looked like the one put off balance. He nodded quietly, "You – He… You didn't tell him my name…"

Wally blinked at him in blank surprise. He hadn't thought Dick would mention that bit first. Had he misread the situation? Maybe Dick didn't care about the love thing after all. Was the torture what he'd been so desperate to talk to him about?

He shook off the shock abruptly and blurted, "Of course not!"

"But…he was torturing you," Dick shook his head like he didn't understand. "You could have given him my name and made it stop."

Wally stared at him like he had nine heads. That was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard! " _What?_ I wasn't going to – Okay, _first_ : There's no way in hell I would ever give him your identity. _Second_ : Zoom hates me. He would've kept torturing me anyway. And, _third_ : I just _told_ you! I would _never_ tell him your secret identity. I'd never tell anyone, no matter what they did to me."

"That's stupid!" Dick started to look more like himself again as he suddenly got angry. "It might have saved you all that pain."

"Are you listening to me? Like, you can hear that I'm speaking English, right?" Wally cocked his head to the side, narrowing his eyes at Dick quizzically. "The sole reason that Professor Zoom was trying to get your name out of me was so that he could kill you. You get that? If I'd told him, then you'd be dead the second you went out anywhere as Richard Grayson. Why would I sentence you to death just to spare myself a little pain?"

" _A little pain?!_ " Dick's eyes bugged out of his head. "He was killing you! He was destabilizing your molecular structure and tearing your insides apart!"

"So?" Wally shrugged, getting irritated now at how dumb his best friend was being. "It's not like I _only_ agreed to keep your secret until the day someone asked for it. That's not much of a promise at all."

"There are exceptions!" Dick shouted at him angrily. "Like when you're being tortured to death!"

"No!" Wally growled back just as heatedly. "There _aren't!_ Not ever. God, it's like you _wanted_ me to betray you and lead Zoom right to you."

"What I _didn't_ want was to ever see you like that again!" Dick was actually trembling as he yelled. His knees buckled, and he sat down hard on one of the benches, looking around manically and moving his arms like he wasn't sure what to do with them. One hand was tugging at his raven hair convulsively while the other was clenched so hard into a fist that the knuckles were white. When he finally pulled himself together enough to look up, Wally saw that he didn't look mad anymore. He looked _lost_. "I've been right here the whole time! I was there when Batman and Black Canary found you dead in your house with a knife sticking out of your chest! I waited for almost _seven_ hours not knowing if you were going to live or die. I watched your uncle try everything possible to save you and listened to you scream in agony when you finally woke up. And I stayed with you every night when you were recovering so that you wouldn't have nightmares!"

Wally shut his mouth and felt all his anger drain away as he listened to Dick rant on. The boy wonder stood back up suddenly and walked right up to him, stabbing a finger into his chest. His eyes blazed with intensity, and he was less than five inches away, nearly matching him in height.

"Then, when you were finally starting to be okay again, you got ambushed by Zoom and Blue Trinity, and _I_ watched the feed from your goggles, knowing the whole time that I should have been there with you! You asked me if I wanted to come with on that run, and I turned you down! Do you know how that made me feel?! I looked for you _every day_ , and I didn't even know if you were dead or not! So, don't you dare tell me it's only a little bit of pain! It's more than that to _me_. I don't ever want anything like this to happen to you ever again, and I'd rather die than have to see you go through that kind of agony," Dick finished breathlessly, face red and chest heaving. His eyes were like live wires – wild and burning with passion beneath the few strands of black hair that had fallen out of place. Wally felt his insides tie themselves into knots while his heart started beating faster than a race car.

He'd never seen anything so beautiful in his entire life.

Without waiting to stop and think about what he was doing, Wally took the sides of Dick's face in both hands and kissed him.

It only lasted a couple seconds, but that was plenty of time for Wally to realize what he'd done. He pulled back as absolute horror came crashing down on him and watched in slow motion as Dick's eyes turned into wide circles. His mouth hung open in shock. Neither one of them moved a muscle for several heartbeats. They just stared at one another, centimeters apart, frozen in time.

Until Wally reeled back like Dick had burned him. He held out his hands defensively and started panicking, "I'm sorry! I don't – I… shouldn't have done that. Dick, I'm so -!"

"Shut up…" Dick's dumbfounded expression suddenly turned hopeful. He closed the distance between them and hooked one hand around the back of Wally's neck, pulling him down into another kiss.

For a moment, Wally wasn't sure how to respond. He just stood there numbly until an intense wave of calm settled over him, stronger even than how he'd felt after he confessed to his aunt and uncle everything his dad had done to him. This felt so unbelievably _right_. Wally wrapped both arms around Dick's waist and pulled him flush against him, his heartbeat speeding up to a steady hum. Dick held onto him just as tightly, and Wally could feel him smile against his lips.

Dick pulled back just enough to rest his forehead on Wally's, and he heard relieved laughter issue from the black-haired boy. When he opened his eyes, he found Dick grinning at him, "This is why we've been so weird around each other lately, isn't it?"

"Oh my God," Wally nodded with a helpless sigh. "I've been stressing out about this for like two weeks."

"A month," Dick admitted with a little half shrug.

"I really like you," Wally smiled at him after a minute, feeling a little embarrassed. "A _lot_ more than a best friend."

"Yeah, I kinda got that," Dick laughed in response, no doubt referring to the kiss they'd just shared.

"I know," he took the teasing good-naturedly. Wally was so happy right now that Dick could've punched him in the jaw and it _still_ wouldn't have wiped the giant smile off his face. "I just wanted to say it."

"Then, I like you too," Dick's grin grew even wider. His fingers tangled themselves in Wally's hair and started dragging lightly along his scalp. "When did you realize?"

"Uh…the day I got kidnapped by Zoom, actually," Wally thought about it for a second, absently threading his fingers together at the small of Dick's back. "When we were just coming into California. That's when it really hit me. I mean, I'm sure it started _way_ before that, and I just couldn't tell. I was probably in denial; you know how I am."

"I wasn't much better," Dick laughed half-heartedly. "I think I started feeling this way that first night in the Watchtower when I stayed with you, and it took me all the way until the day Roy and I came over to figure it out completely. Actually, _Artemis_ helped me see it more than anything else."

Then Dick's expression was suddenly annoyed, and he narrowed his eyes at Wally accusingly, "Did you know that she's been all over you since January?"

Instead of getting nervous, Wally just snorted with laughter, "This is hilarious. Do you know how jealous I've been of _Zatanna_ lately? I've been trying to hate her for two weeks, and the girl hasn't done anything to me. I don't even know if she likes you for sure or not."

"Oh, she does, but she's not my type," Dick confirmed with a distant frown like he was remembering something. Wally's mood was about to tank in concern when Dick knocked their heads together lightly with a playful smirk. "Oh, please, like _you_ aren't in the same boat as me with Artemis after you. Calm down."

"I don't like this whole being jealous thing," Wally sighed tiredly. However, if it meant that he got to be with Dick like _this_ , he could deal with it.

"Don't worry; I've always preferred speedsters over magicians. Although, I kinda like you being jealous," Dick winked at him smugly and moved in for another kiss. For half an instant, Wally was tempted to turn his head to stubbornly avoid it, but he caved at the last second and met Dick's lips with his own. That's when he realized that the younger hero was about to have a _lot_ of power over him, and it was probably going to be really terrible for winning arguments.

All too soon, Dick broke the kiss, and when Wally opened his eyes to see what was wrong, he found Dick frowning at him in confusion, "Why do you taste like a sidewalk?"

"What…?" Wally blinked at him uncomprehendingly for a second before he thought to glance down at himself. Right. He was still filthy. He stepped back away from Dick and patted down his costume. "Oh, that's concrete dust. Sorry, I was gonna shower, but then you ambushed me."

"What were you doing?" Dick cocked his head to the side suspiciously.

"Training. I told you," Wally explained simply. "We were practicing vibrating through things _without_ making them explode."

"How'd it go?" Dick's eyes lit up in interest.

"Uhh… Well, I managed to vibrate through all of the walls," he answered evasively with an optimistic tone.

An impish smile slowly spread across Dick's face, "And how many did you blow up?"

"All of them," Wally reported proudly, placing his hands on his hips and successfully puffing out his chest and holding the pose until Dick's laughter poked cracks into his façade. He darted over to retrieve his towel and the spare costume he'd stashed there from the last time he'd trained in the gym. "I'm gonna grab a really fast shower if that's cool. I feel like I'm breathing in all this gunk. Please don't go anywhere?"

It was a question, but Dick still nodded and leaned against the lockers with his arms crossed and an easy smile on his face, "I won't. Just hurry back."

Wally didn't need any more persuading. He dashed out of the locker room and back to the showers where the stall he'd turned on before was still running. He stripped off the rest of his Kid Flash uniform and hopped under the spray. Normally, he could shower very thoroughly in the span of two seconds, but this time, he took his time and stretched that to almost a minute.

Wally was euphoric. He closed his eyes and tilted his face into the water, letting the hot spray run over his aching muscles as he thought about what had just happened. It was almost too good to be true, and Wally was in disbelief that Dick felt the same way about him. He knew that they'd run across a few little problems soon if they decided to be together this way, but he pushed them from his mind. It was _way_ too early to start worrying about what his friends and family would think. Wally just needed to shut off his superspeed for once and enjoy taking it slow.

He turned off the water and toweled off in record time, changing into the fresh uniform in the blink of an eye and zipping back into the locker room where Dick was still waiting for him. The boy wonder was standing in the middle of the room now, arms dropped at his sides and facing the door, but Wally didn't spare a thought as to why. He just sped right up to him and threw his arms around Dick's shoulders, grinning impossibly wide.

Dick didn't respond like he'd hoped. Instead, the black-haired boy glanced at him with a nervous expression, and that's when Wally heard the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him. His muscles locked up immediately, and he very slowly peeked over his shoulder.

Roy was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame with a sly smirk on his face.

Wally jumped back away from Dick, his face burning red hot with panic and embarrassment. So, maybe it wasn't too early to freak out over what his friends and family would think after all…

He started to stammer out an explanation, but Roy pushed off from the frame and walked up to them, holding out one hand to quiet him, "You don't have to do that. Your guilty little faces say it all. _So_ , when did _this_ happen?"

The way he said it, and the way he looked right at Dick, gave Wally pause. What was that about? Had they talked about this before?

"About five minutes ago," Dick answered begrudgingly.

Then the smuggest grin Wally had ever seen stretched across Roy's face, "I _told_ you that you had nothing to worry about."

"Just shut up," Dick muttered, looking away stubbornly.

"Wait… I'm confused," Wally looked back and forth between the two of them. "How does Roy know?"

"I figured it out," Roy crossed his arms and shrugged one shoulder. "Dickie over there is much worse at being sneaky than he thinks."

"Don't call me that," Dick grumbled, only getting more irritated when Roy reached out and ruffled his hair.

"Well, I think it's cute," Roy eyed them both with a superior look. He hooked his arm around Wally's neck and leaned in to speak covertly. "If you need any tips, you just let me know, alright?"

Wally bristled, leaning away from Roy and fixing him with a look, "What the hell does _that_ mean?"

"He thinks he's an expert just because he's dating someone," Dick sidled over to stand beside Wally, matching his mild glare at their older brother. "A certain _supervillain_ someone."

Roy's teasing demeanor abruptly vanished, and he scowled at Dick, "You just can't keep your mouth shut for two days, can you?"

"What – Cheshire?" Wally raised an eyebrow at Dick for confirmation. "We've known about that for months."

Roy looked extremely annoyed at that, "We're not dating…"

"Mmhmm," Wally smiled at him doubtfully, exchanging a look with Dick out of the corners of his eyes.

"How have you 'known about it for months'?" Roy narrowed his eyes at them suspiciously.

"Uhm, _dude_. December. New Orleans," Wally rolled his eyes with a sigh, remembering clearly the night that he, Kaldur, Artemis, and Roy had chased down Sportsmaster and Cheshire. "She had you pinned and kissed you before I knocked her off. You totally liked it. I could tell. So, I told Dick."

"We figured, if anything, we could tease you with it forever," Dick chimed in as well. "We didn't expect to find you meeting up with her regularly all through January."

"And, how do you know about _that_?!" Roy threw his arms up in frustration, glaring at the both of them in disbelief."

"We followed you," Wally shrugged like it was no big deal.

Roy's eyes bugged out dangerously, "Are you _joking_?! It's not like we were going on dates! Half of those times we 'met up', she _attacked_ me. If you were following me, why didn't you help?!"

"Oh, come on," Dick ignored his outburst. "It's not like she was _really_ trying to hurt you. It's called 'fight flirting'. Catwoman does it to Batman all the time. You just have to deal with it."

"Besides, Cheshire's been sort of avoiding fights with the other heroes lately. Especially the Team. Maybe that has something to do with _you_ ," Wally trailed off suggestively. "Although, I think it's also because she's Artemis' big sister. She probably doesn't want to estrange herself by killing one of us."

" _What_?!" Roy's mouth dropped open. "Artemis is her sister?!"

Dick elbowed Wally in the ribs, and he cringed outwardly. Oops.

"Yeah…" he made a pained sort of face and tried to speak delicately. "Artemis told us herself towards the end of December. Sorry – I guess we all just kept it need to know."

"Get used to it, Roy," Dick half smiled with a shrug. "If you and Cheshire get married, Artemis is gonna be your sister-in-law."

"I'm not going to _marry-_ " Roy shut his mouth abruptly like he'd had something to shoot back at them but changed his mind. He took a deep breath and went to one of the lockers instead, putting in his combination. "I'm not doing this with you two. I'm going to go shower, and when I come back, you had better be gone or Batman and Flash are gonna find some anonymous emails detailing the newest extracurricular activities of their sidekicks."

Dick laughed out loud and called him out on his bluff, "You don't know Batman's email."

Roy just slammed the locker shut and stomped towards the showers, "Then I'll get it from Ollie."

"Ollie doesn't know it either," Dick and Wally whispered to each other at the same time.

Then at the last second, Wally caught a glimpse of Roy's shoulder and the black and yellow bruise covering it all the way to his back. Wally dashed to his side quickly and pulled him to a stop so he could get a better look at it, "What the heck happened to you?!"

Roy craned his neck to look at the bruise, revealing another one on the side of his jaw, "Just patrol. It's not even that bad."

He said that too quickly. Dick noticed as well, and he narrowed his eyes at Roy suspiciously, "You're lying…"

Roy glared at him and moved his eyebrows like he was trying to silently convey something important, " _No_. I'm not."

"Now who's being patronizing?" Wally countered with a mild frown. Roy had raged for so long over not being treated like an equal by the League, and he was doing the same thing to them! "Tell us."

Roy stared at him for a long moment, deciding what to do, before he sighed unhappily, "Some Velocity got to the streets…"

Wally's arm dropped to his side numbly, and he felt his chest go cold.

"Cheshire gave me the heads up this morning. I've been in Chicago tracking down every sale," he continued carefully, watching Wally closely for his reaction. "Now, it's not the newest version. We analyzed the samples we got our hands on, and it's only Velocity 8. But there are already a lot of people using. I got tagged a few times, because there's no way to know who's taken the V8 unless you get up close."

"I destroyed every drop of Velocity in that base!" Wally growled suddenly, pointing at Roy angrily once he snapped out of his shock. He wasn't mad at the archer; he was remembering how he'd nearly gotten himself killed trying to make sure V9 never got out.

"Well, that's just it. 'In that base'." Roy said reluctantly. "Zoom must've had another stash somewhere – him or Vandal Savage."

Wally felt the fury rolling through his body and started shaking until Dick put a hand on his shoulder to help steady him.

"There's more," Roy sounded unwilling to tell them. "Professor Zoom sightings have started up again. They're concentrated in spikes all over Central City."

So, he _was_ alive. Wally knew that Zoom had most likely survived, but he'd been holding out hope anyways. Either way, alive or dead, this was a problem, "Have you told anyone yet?"

"No," Roy answered with an uncomprehending frown. "I was kind of doing this under the radar. Didn't think the Justice League would approve of me working with Cheshire. Why?"

"You didn't see my memories, did you?" Wally said it as more of a statement than a question. He felt his whole body go on high alert.

"No…what's going on?" Roy was lost, but Wally didn't have any time to explain. He turned to Dick and found him just as alarmed.

"What Zoom said to me…"

"About the Manhunters attacking right after Velocity is released," Dick supplied the rest for him urgently. "But, you destroyed the ones that were designated to attack the Watchtower. You don't think what Zoom said still applies, do you?"

"Zoom's so fast that he can only be spotted by regular humans if he wants to be," Wally shook his head furiously. "He's letting himself be seen just to taunt me so that I know the League's going to be attacked anyway. It's for the same reason that he released Velocity so soon – to let me know that I didn't change anything."

"Are you sure?" Dick frowned.

"I'm positive," Wally nodded confidently. "It _doesn't_ matter how many Manhunters I took out. We know that there are more out there in the universe, and _I_ know Professor Zoom. He wouldn't have done this for no reason."

Roy still looked skeptical, but he was staring to the side like he was running through all the facts in his head. Dick was looking at Wally with wide, clear eyes, and he knew that they were definitely on the same page.

"The Manhunters are coming."

"Go warn Batman and Flash. I'll tell the Lanterns," Roy snapped out of his daze and pointed at each of them seriously. "Move _fast_. I think you're right."

Wally looked over at Dick, and it felt like time slowed down for a moment. His eyes roved over the contours of Dick's face, his sapphire eyes, and the hard lines of his eyebrows and mouth. He'd already analyzed the situation and was ready to act. Wally had never felt more in sync with anyone else.

Roy sprinted out of the room, and Dick instantly reached out for Wally's hand, "Keep your communicator on."

"You too," Wally squeezed his hand tightly. Then he dashed out of the locker room as well, outstripping Roy easily and running through the Watchtower up to the residential level where his uncle's quarters were.

He sped to the door and keyed in the lock combination as fast as possible. It slid open too slowly, and Wally rushed into the room. His aunt was still at her laptop typing up her newest story, and Uncle Barry was looking out the window at space, drying his hair with a towel. Both looked up when he ran in.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Aunt Iris closed her laptop curiously, half rising from her seat when she saw the look on his face.

"The Manhunters are going to attack," Wally blurted immediately. "Any minute."

Uncle Barry was suddenly in front of him, expression severe and all business, "How do you know? I didn't hear an alert go out."

"There won't be one until Robin reaches Batman. We just figured it out literally two minutes ago," he explained in one breath. "I need you to trust me. _Please_. I'm not wrong."

"I trust you," Uncle Barry assured him very seriously. He was a blur of motion, and then he had his costume on. "I need you to run to the med bay. Tell Max to get Jay and Joan planetside. Give this address to him."

Wally looked at the slip of paper his uncle had scrawled a few words on and glanced up at him questioningly.

"It's a safe house in Alaska," his uncle sped to the dresser and pulled out a small black bag. He handed it off to Aunt Iris, who slung it over her shoulder without even a single word. She pulled out a strange metal bracelet from one of the side pockets and slid it onto her wrist with practiced ease. A small red light started blinking when she pressed a button on it. Was it a tracker? "I got it when I married your aunt so that I had somewhere safe to take her in case my identity got burned and she needed to disappear fast."

"Okay," Wally gripped the paper tightly, heart still pounding madly with adrenaline.

"I'm taking Iris there right now. She can't be up here when we're attacked," his uncle scooped Aunt Iris into his arms right as the Watchtower's security system started going off. A small red light above the door started flashing along with a panic siren. "Just hold tight up here, and I'll be right back."

He made to speed out the door, but Aunt Iris clutched his arm frantically, "Wait! Isn't Wally coming with us?! He can't stay _here_ if the Manhunters are on their way!"

Uncle Barry paused, and Wally looked between him and Aunt Iris, feeling his body go icy with dread. There was no way they'd make him sit this one out, right? Not after everything he'd gone through – everything he'd _done_. They'd been protecting and babying him for far too long, and it had to stop.

"Babe," Uncle Barry said reluctantly, looking down at Aunt Iris with a regretful frown. "This is gonna be…life or death for the Justice League. And if it falls, then the planet falls. Earth can't afford to have him out of the picture. With Wally able to make things explode now, he's going to be one of the League's heavy hitters. I can't ask him to stay out of the fight."

Aunt Iris' eyes filled with tears of dismay, and she looked like she was anxiously trying to think of some kind of argument to offer to the contrary.

"You're going to have the hardest job of either of us, Iris," he spoke sympathetically. "You'll have to wait for us to come back when it's all over and trust that we can do it. Do you think you can handle that? I know Wally and I will both fight better if we know you believe in us."

Wally felt his own eyes start burning when his aunt tearfully nodded and reached out for him. He sped to his aunt and uncle and let her curl her arm around his neck and shoulders in a tight hug, "Be safe. _Please._ Both of you."

"You too," Wally sniffed hard to hold back his emotions. Uncle Barry left quickly for the zeta tubes, and he went the opposite direction towards the medical bay to warn the rest of his family.


	24. Chapter 24

[Mount Justice

March 26, 16:00 EST]

_"Recognize: Aqualad – B02"_

Kaldur calmly stepped out of the zeta tube and into Mt. Justice. By now, he was used to the sudden and stark absence of pressure all around him. Being on the surface world, without the feeling of the seas enveloping him, no longer made him feel insecure and exposed. He was far more comfortable here now and more confident in his role as leader. He knew what needed to be done and what his team needed him to be.

And that was calm, cool, and collected – especially with their worst fears bearing down upon them.

"Kaldur!" M'gann exclaimed when he walked into the mission briefing room. "We didn't think you would be fighting with us."

"Red Tornado told us that the Atlanteans were guarding the coasts of all the major cities," Conner also left the massive holographic screen to greet him. "You're not going to stay with them?"

"My king gave me a choice of where to fight," Kaldur told them both simply. "I chose to be here with my teammates."

"We're really glad to see you," Zatanna was standing beside Artemis, who was at the console trying to raise the Watchtower on communications. "We don't have any idea what's going on right now. Captain Atom contacted us ten minutes ago and told us to prepare for an incoming Manhunter attack, but we haven't heard anything since. Is the Watchtower being attacked? Is that why we can't get them to answer us?!"

She was panicking. Zatanna was still the least experienced member of their team, and although she could hold her own in a fight well enough, she had yet to figure out how to handle the stress of intense situations. Kaldur squared his shoulders and approached the monitor. He didn't have the answers to any of her questions, but he _could_ help her stay calm. As leader, he needed to reign in his teammates and make sure that they didn't fall apart before any actual fighting began.

"It is alright," he placed a hand on her shoulder and carefully moved Artemis away from the controls. "If this truly is an impending attack, then the Justice League is currently trying to coordinate a defensive plan. We would only be hindering them by bombarding the communications satellite with calls."

"Well, they should have told us more about what's going on!" Artemis said angrily, folding her arms over her chest. "All we got was a quick 'Get ready. They're coming'. What are we supposed to do with that?!"

"Be patient," he kept his own breathing steady and regular to show them that if he wasn't frightened, they shouldn't be either. "The Justice League may not know any more than that. When they are ready to give us our assignment, they will contact us. We must make sure we are ready to answer. I want to do an equipment check while we wait."

The check wasn't necessary. Kaldur knew that his friends were well-trained enough to properly gear up when they were getting ready for a battle, but giving them something to do in the meantime did wonders in keeping their heads on straight. He knew from his time in the Atlantean military that even just touching your weapons and knowing that you were prepared gave you a sense of calm in the face of danger. So, he helped his teammates make sure they all had the shield generators that Kilowog had given them and that Artemis had all of her new arrows specifically engineered for combat against the Manhunters.

He reached back and brushed his fingers against the water-bearers strapped to his water pack to steady his own nerves. By the time they were all finished, the cave was receiving an incoming transmission from the Watchtower.

Captain Atom's silvery face and glowing yellow eyes were suddenly on screen and staring out at them grimly, "Watchtower to Mt. Justice. Respond. Are you ready for battle?"

Artemis scoffed at his words, "It's about time. We've been ready for fifteen minutes!"

Kaldur assumed control of communications, "We are prepared. May we ask our role in Earth's defense and the status of the attack?"

"We don't know how far away the Manhunters are, but we received information that they will be attacking soon. Our long range sensors are useless for detecting their approach, but we have a network of Green Lanterns spread out to warn us when they're spotted," Captain Atom relayed in curt, military tones. "The only thing we know for certain is that this will be an attack on the Justice League, not the planet. The target will be the Watchtower."

Kaldur felt his eyes widen in alarm and saw his teammates stiffen around him.

"We believe this will be a direct, concentrated assault with the purpose of eliminating the League as Earth's primary defense, leaving it open and vulnerable to the Manhunters."

"But, the League already destroyed all the Manhunter bases on Earth!" M'gann gasped, expression drawn tight with distress. "They don't have any influence here anymore."

"That is most likely what precipitated this attack. The League has presented itself as a threat too large to be ignored any longer," Captain Atom said gravely. "And so they're coming to take us out."

"What can we do?" Kaldur asked immediately, head held high. There was no time to be afraid any longer and no room for doubts.

"You'll be fighting side by side with the League," Captain Atom told them without hesitation. "On the Watchtower."

The whole Team went still. Kaldur merely stared up at the computer screen in disbelief. They were being asked to fight with their mentors and the rest of the League? As equals?

"We need every available hand to stave off this apocalypse," he continued, seeming not to notice their frozen bodies. "All of your mentors gave their consent to your participation. Your signatures have been authorized for Watchtower access, and we need you on board ASAP. Report to the observation deck and standby for further orders."

Kaldur was the first to snap out of their trance. He nodded briskly to Captain Atom and turned to make his way to the zeta tubes, "We're on our way."

The transmission ended, and the cave was silent once more. Kaldur eyed his teammates and took a deep breath, "This is what we've been waiting for since we started this team. The Justice League needs our help."

They all sprinted to the zeta tubes at once, and Kaldur waited until everyone else had been scanned before stepping in himself. He keyed in the Watchtower's coordinates and stood still while he was being teleported into space.

_"-artian – B05, Superboy – B04, Aqualad – B02"_

Kaldur blinked to alleviate the brightness of the zeta beam. That was another thing he'd needed to get used to when he came to the surface world; light was so much brighter up here as opposed to the soft glow of bioluminescence that Atlanteans were accustomed to. He stepped out of the tube and down the wide steps to a huge room bordered on two sides by floor to ceiling windows that looked out into the deep black of space.

The expansive observation deck was holding the largest congregation of heroes that Kaldur had ever seen in one place at the same time. There was a multitude of different colors and costumes gathered together with many voices speaking all at once. Outside of the huge windows, among the constellations and blackness of space, he could see dozens of glowing green dots scattered around the exterior of the Watchtower. They must've been the members of the Green Lantern Corps that had come to help, shielded in their energy bubbles.

With the rest of the Team, Kaldur descended to the bottom platform to stand with the other heroes. His eyes scanned the crowd for familiar faces and were instantly drawn to the two most impressive figures in the room.

Superman and Batman were standing right in front of the windows on a slightly higher, outer platform, speaking to each other in inaudible voices. Every now and then, they'd nod to someone in the crowd like they were discussing a plan for them. Kaldur spotted Black Canary quickly, standing rigidly and silently among the other nervous and chatting heroes with her eyes straight ahead and shoulders squared almost regally. Her expression was carefully stoic, but when she glanced over and saw the Team assembled, the corners of her mouth turned upwards in unmistakable pride.

A few feet away from her, both Hawkwoman and Hawkman were waiting in relaxed poses with their maces resting on shoulders and hands on hips. Kaldur spotted Huntress leaning against the far wall with her arms crossed and violet crossbow in hand, looking bored and angry at the same time. Beside her was a hero he'd never seen before. It was a tall, black-haired man in a dark blue trench coat and banded fedora – with no face. He was similarly leaning on the wall with his hands in the pockets of his coat and his head turned slightly towards Huntress like they were talking. But he had no eyes and no mouth, and his nose didn't have any nostrils. How did he breathe?

So consumed was he by the anonymous hero that Kaldur didn't see the missing two of their team until they were calling out to him. He immediately scanned the faces near where M'gann had rushed off flying to and found Robin and Wally standing together with Green Arrow.

It was the first time that Kaldur had seen his surface brother since he'd been taken. They'd been told vague details about what happened to him, and Kaldur had honestly expected him to be a mess. But the Wally that he was looking at right now was standing tall and looking fierce and confident in the face of their incoming foe. His eyes were alive and bright in a way that Kaldur hadn't seen them in a long time. He looked healthy and absolutely ready for a fight.

M'gann crashed into Wally, immediately moving to lock him into a tight hug, "I'm so glad you're okay!"

" _This_ is déjà vu," Wally said wryly, moving to hug her back when Conner joined in, pinning Wally's arms to his sides and lifting him right off the floor.

"I heard about what you did to escape," he said with a hesitant smile like he was testing Wally's mood. "I thought it was really cool."

Wally beamed, flashing a toothy smile and hooking an arm around Conner's neck like he was telling him a secret, "I know! I'm like a Manhunter destroying _machine_. Heh. Get it? Anyways, don't worry, Supey. Stick with me, and I'll make sure the evil robots don't get you."

Conner jerked back and made a face while Robin cracked up laughing. Kaldur had to smile too, because it was such a normal Wally thing to say. Only, this time, he wasn't using humor and false bravado to hide behind so that they didn't see his insecurities and pain. He was just being light-hearted.

Kaldur was so relieved that he didn't notice his body was moving in time to stop it from enveloping Wally in a very quick, one-armed embrace. He stepped back right after, feeling a little awkward, "I am sorry. I know you must be tired of everyone fretting over you by now. I do not mean to make you uncomfortable."

Wally just rolled his eyes at the formality and grinned, "Calm down, Kal. You're one of my best friends. If you had any idea how uncomfortable _Red Arrow's_ made me in the last twenty minutes…"

"What did he do?" Green Arrow asked warily, looking up from obsessively checking Artemis' quivers to make sure she had the specialized arrows. He looked like an anxious mother packing her child's backpack for their first day at school. Artemis smacked him away and warded him off with a glare.

Curiously, at his question, both Robin and Wally went quiet and turned red, mumbling dismissals and excuses that didn't match up.

_"Recognize: Firestorm – 28"_

Kaldur glanced over his shoulder and saw yet another hero arrive, dressed in a red and yellow costume with actual _fire_ for hair. The newcomer casually made his way down to the rest of the gathering, and Kaldur couldn't help but wonder how many heroes the League had called to action to help in its defense this last month.

"Is there any kind of plan yet?" Artemis asked her mentor, similarly surveying all the heroes around them.

"Well, we're trying to keep the fighting up here," Green Arrow explained. "That's why we're grouping together as many heroes as possible. We don't want the Manhunters to go looking for us down on Earth and cause any damage there. As for the actual battle plan…that's still a bit unclear. I think Batman and Superman are still working out everyone's role, but for the most part, we're splitting into teams to tackle the different parts of the Watchtower. I doubt the fighting's just going to be in one place…"

_"Recognize: Mister Miracle – 33, Big Barda – 34"_

This time, two more heroes joined the grouping, one a man in strange, full-body armor with a high-collared green cape, and the other a woman who was easily a full foot taller than her companion and wearing similar plate and scale mail armor with an elaborate helmet. They stalked through the gathering with the air of gods, sending a rare chill down Kaldur's spine.

"At any rate, the Lanterns are probably going to be handling the battle outside along with a few in the League that can survive out in space. That'll probably be Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Captain Atom."

The sudden, uncomfortable feeling of being watched made Kaldur glance over his shoulder. It seemed that some of the heroes had finally noticed his and the Team's presence, and a few looked none too pleased that they were there. He'd always known that King Orin and the other mentors often received criticism for their decision to take on young sidekicks, but it was a little disconcerting to see so many disapproving stares all at once. Kaldur turned his back on them resolutely and tried to appear as though he hadn't noticed.

_"Recognize: Atom Smasher – 30"_

The floor trembled as an impossibly large hero in a full-body red and blue suit came slowly walking in.

"Do you know if our team will be split amongst the more experienced heroes, or will we be allowed to fight together?" Kaldur inquired.

"As far as I know, the eight of you will be working together," Green Arrow said thoughtfully.

"Eight?" Zatanna raised an eyebrow and looked like she was mentally counting them all.

Even Robin looked confused, "Are you talking about Red Arrow?"

"No," Green Arrow shook his head and gave them an apologetic look. "I'm actually not sure about that either. Wonder Woman just told us to expect another for your team. Didn't say why, and she's not back from Themyscira yet."

_"Recognize: Fire – 36, Ice – 37"_

Two beautiful women entered their ranks. The first was in all green with long, pale jade colored hair, and the second was wearing white and blue, shocking white hair framing her face in sharp spikes.

"But don't be surprised if some of the Leaguers hover by you," he warned them unhappily, sending imposing glares at the onlookers and crossing his arms. "I'm sure you've noticed. Not many are very happy with you seven being up here to help fight the Manhunters."

_"Recognize: Vixen – 38"_

Conner seemed especially agitated at the whispers being breathed around them, as he could hear it all clear as day. He looked several of the heroes right in the eye and growled, "Then they should get over it and stay out of our way."

He spoke loud enough for many to hear, earning the Team a few looks. But, Green Arrow smiled beneath his mustache and clapped Conner and Artemis on the back, "I don't think you'll have any trouble with the League. Just keep your focus on the Manhunters and watch each other's backs. Alright?"

They all nodded their understanding.

_"Recognize: Blue Devil – 29"_

"I'm going over to talk to Huntress and Question," Green Arrow jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "She'll need to coordinate with Red Arrow and myself since she uses ranged attacks too, and I'm pretty sure Question has a bug on Batman somewhere. I'm gonna see if I can figure out more about the strategy. That's a good thing to remember, by the way – if you ever need answers that no one else can get, go to Question."

Kaldur looked back at the faceless hero beside Huntress and watched Green Arrow make his way over too them. Black Canary met him halfway.

"Who do you think our eighth person is going to be?" M'gann asked worriedly.

_"Recognize: Authorized Guest – Grifter"_

"Do you two know anything about it?" Zatanna asked Wally and Robin, who both shrugged in reply.

"First _I'm_ hearing about it," Robin shook his head.

Artemis poked M'gann in the side covertly and nodded towards Superman and Batman, " _They_ probably know. Just take a listen real quick and see if you can find out."

" _No!_ " M'gann gasped in a scandalized voice, looking around to see if anyone had heard. She turned back to Artemis, who was grinning slyly. "Are you crazy?! I'd never do that!"

"I actually don't think you could get into Batman's head," Robin chuckled wryly. "And that's nothing against you, it's just…he's Batman, y'know?"

M'gann snuck another look for a second and shook her head furiously, "Not doing it!"

Wally and Artemis both snickered to each other, but Conner actually seemed to be trying to eavesdrop on the two heroes across the room. He wasn't the only one either. It looked like almost everyone in the room was straining to hear _something_ or asking around for little snippets of information.

_"Recognize: Wonder Woman – 03, Authorized Guest – Wonder Girl"_

"Wonder _Girl_?" Wally frowned in confusion and exchanged looks with Robin.

"Who's that?" Zatanna looked to each of them for an answer, but Kaldur had no idea.

He stepped closer to the edge of the crowd to see the zeta tubes better. Wonder Woman was moving down the steps, carrying herself with both the grace of royalty and the lethal stride of a warrior. As usual, her commanding presence drew the attention of nearly everyone in the room, but Kaldur and his teammates were more interested in the younger girl following alongside her. She was shorter by maybe a foot and looked to be Kaldur's age – in her mid teens. The young girl's appearance closely resembled Wonder Woman's; both had long, lustrous black hair and the same deep blue eyes. Her costume was even modeled after Wonder Woman's – a bright red halter top jumpsuit with stars running down the sides and black boots. A golden lasso and short sword hung at her hips, and a shield was strapped to her back.

She didn't have the same confidence either. Her demeanor was an odd mixture of nervousness and glee – like this was the best day of her life, but it wasn't quite turning out like she'd hoped.

The Amazons paused for a few heartbeats while Wonder Woman scanned the crowd like a hawk. Then her eyes fell on the Team, and she smiled like she'd found what she wanted. Wonder Woman steered the young girl towards Kaldur and the others, coming to a halt right in front of them. She had one fist on her hip and the other hand across the girl's shoulders, "Team, I'd like you to meet your newest member. This is my little sister, Wonder Girl. She'll be fighting side by side with you today."

Wonder Girl held her head high, no doubt to make her mentor proud, but her expression was shy. Kaldur had no idea if she was Wonder Woman's actual sister or not. He knew that all Amazons saw each other as sisters and referred to themselves as such. Either way, she greatly interested Kaldur. He felt self-conscious openly staring at her, but he couldn't tear his eyes away.

"These young heroes will be your teammates from now on," Wonder Woman looked down at her sister. "Aqualad is the leader."

Wonder Girl looked over at Kaldur, and the motion sent her red, star earrings swinging mesmerizingly. She gave him a smile and a hello.

Kaldur clasped her hand firmly and tried to respond with his warmest smile, "Welcome! We are happy to have you with us. Especially today."

"Thank you," she beamed. "I've been waiting for this for a long time."

"Your teammates are Superboy, Miss Martian, Artemis, Kid Flash, Robin, and Zatanna," Wonder Woman nodded to each of them in turn. "We've gone over all of your powers, and I know you're all familiar with an Amazon's abilities."

"We are," Kaldur nodded in confirmation.

"Follow Aqualad's orders as you would my own," Wonder Woman addressed her sister firmly.

"I will," Wonder Girl eagerly promised.

Then Wonder Woman's expression softened, and she smoothed her sister's hair back with distinct fondness, "Fight well, sister."

She left to go join Batman and Superman, ignoring the sea of stares she received along the way. The Team seemed to snap out of it and enthusiastically greeted Wonder Girl. While she was trapped in M'Gann's attention, Kaldur felt a sharp elbow jab into his ribs.

He turned his head to see Wally leaning on his shoulder and pointing at the corner of his own mouth, "You've got like…some drool right there."

Kaldur's face heated up, and he stammered an excuse, but Wally and Robin were already laughing too hard to hear it.

_"Recognize: Flash – 04"_

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[The Watchtower

March 26, 16:30 EST]

Wally looked away from Kaldur's embarrassment and saw his uncle stepping out from the zeta tubes. His smile faded away, and he watched Uncle Barry spend half an instant searching the crowd before spotting him. He sped over to Wally and took his arm, leading him a few paces away from the rest of the Team.

Before he had the chance to even open his mouth and ask how Aunt Iris was, Uncle Barry was answering him, "She's safe, along with Joan, Jay, and Max."

"What about Zoom?" Wally asked in a low voice, feeling his stomach twist anxiously at the thought of his family down on the same planet as Professor Zoom. It was much safer than being on the Watchtower at the moment but not ideal. He really didn't like how fixated Zoom was on Aunt Iris, and both Max and Jay were still injured. They would be at an extreme disadvantage in a fight if Professor Zoom found them.

"There's nothing about the safe house in Alaska that links it to me," he assured him with a worried, pensive look – like that wasn't enough to convince _himself_ either. "But even if he finds them, it'll be okay."

" _How?!"_ Wally whispered, trying not to alert his teammates even though he was in borderline hysteria. He knew that in tense times like this, the nerve-wracking waiting before the start of battle, it was important to stay as calm as possible. Psyching yourself out before the fighting even began could be just as deadly as the fight itself.

Uncle Barry rested one hand on Wally's shoulder, "I taught her how to disable a speedster long enough to escape, and I have a pretty wide network of friends that she can call on if she needs to. Granted, most of them are _here_ on the Watchtower, but there are others."

Wally frowned as he thought about what Uncle Barry meant. He couldn't really imagine his aunt taking down Zoom by herself, but he trusted his uncle and tried to push it to the back of his mind.

"Believe me – your aunt means the world to me," Uncle Barry tried to be reassuring for him. "I would _not_ have left her unprotected. Besides, she can take care of herself. She's always been the toughest person I've ever met…although, _you've_ been taking that title lately."

He winked and shook Wally's shoulder warmly.

Wally gave his uncle an embarrassed sort of smile, but hesobered quickly, "Do you think we can do it? Fight off the Manhunters?"

Uncle Barry looked over the top of Wally's head with a thoughtful frown. His grim eyes darted from hero to hero and then focused back on Wally with a helpless smile, "I think we _have_ to."

That was when Wally realized that his uncle wasn't sugarcoating it for him. He wasn't treating him like a kid or trying to protect him from the cold, hard truth.

"The Justice League is the largest organization of heroes on the planet," he went on. "If we fail…well, there's not much hope for Earth. Martian Manhunter wasn't able to convince Mars to help us, and the Lantern Corps can't take out the androids like the Guardians did the first time."

"So…we're it?" Wally swallowed hard, surveying the gathering behind him. There were more here than he'd expected but still not enough.

Behind him, Uncle Barry put a hand on his shoulder, "But we're not alone. And since the League was formed, we've pulled off some pretty amazing stunts. We've taken down enemies that were much bigger than us before."

Wally's eyes fell on his own teammates, and he remembered all the times they'd come out on top when they shouldn't have been able to. Freeing Conner from the intimidating Cadmus facility had been sloppy, but they'd defeated Blockbuster on their own as well as a whole army of weaponized genomorphs. They'd foiled international assassins multiple times and bested some of the big guns like Lex Luthor, Queen Bee, and Black Adam.

He looked at the Team one by one, thinking about how much each of them had overcome to get this far. As if he could sense Wally staring, Dick turned his head and locked eyes with him. His mouth stretched into a crooked grin, and Wally felt warmth coil through his limbs. Dick returned the smile with one of his own, and it made Wally's body hum with slow vibrations.

"Plus," Uncle Barry's voice captured his attention, and Wally glanced back to see his uncle looking between him and Dick with the barest hint of a suspicious smile. "We've all got something we love that we're protecting. That's a more powerful motivator than anything else."

He didn't give any other indication that he knew what had happened between them. He just squeezed Wally's shoulder again, "I need to go find out what we're doing. Stay ready, and we'll tell you your role soon."

"Yeah, okay." Wally nodded, knowing his uncle was about to speed off. He needed to say it now. In case… "Um…"

Uncle Barry paused and waited curiously.

"Thank you," he said lamely, trying to convey what he meant but just ending up gesturing uselessly. "For y'know, _everything_. I really…"

His throat swelled shut, and he couldn't finish the sentence, but Uncle Barry seemed to get it.

"You're welcome, Kid," Uncle Barry said quietly, pulling him into a quick, one-armed embrace. "But you never have to thank me again."

Then he sped off to stand with Hal and Kilowog, both of whom were waiting to hear the plan before rejoining the other Lanterns. Wally watched him for a few seconds before moving back to his own teammates. Most of them were still getting acquainted with Wonder Girl, but Dick broke away and gave Wally a silent look that clearly wanted to know if he was okay. He nodded easily with an anxious sort of grin that belied his nerves.

Suddenly, Wally felt M'gann's presence in his mind – he really _was_ getting better at detecting telepathy. Then the individual minds of his teammates were joined up one by one. Wally remembered when they'd all adamantly refused to let M'gann do this, but now it just seemed natural. It was quicker and more efficient than talking and a much easier way to get your point across.

 _'So, Wonder Girl,'_ M'gann's voice rang out cheerfully in their heads. _'Do you have a name you'd like us to call you, or would you just prefer your hero name?'_

Apparently, Wonder Girl had never experienced telepathic communication before. She reeled back in surprise, blue eyes going wide in alarm and darting around frantically for the source of the voice in her head. M'gann just stayed still and waved at her with a warm smile.

 _'Sorry…I'm not used to…speaking this way,'_ Wonder Girl thought haltingly as she figured out how to organize her thoughts clearly. _'My name is Donna Troy. I've no qualms about sharing it with you.'_

 _'You can call me M'gann!'_ she replied joyfully, mentally prodding the others to join her.

Predictably, Kaldur immediately offered his name to her. Wally resisted the urge to tease him any further. It was still funny, but the Atlantean had a tendency of overthinking things, and Wally didn't want to push him too much. It was probably best to let that take off on its own.

Artemis, Zatanna, and Conner gave their names next, and Donna really seemed excited that they were accepting her so easily. For the first time in his hero career though, Wally was a little hesitant to reveal his identity. After everything that had happened with his father, he didn't really want anyone new to know it. Just in case. Of course, his father and Professor Zoom could have told any number of people by now, so what did it matter? And Wally had decided not to let his dad dictate what he did anymore.

So, when Donna looked over at him shyly, he made an impulsive choice, _'I'm Wally West.'_

 _'It's very nice to meet you,'_ Donna smiled at him in relief.

 _'Sorry, I can't tell you my name,'_ Dick shrugged helplessly with an apologetic, slanted grin. _'Mentor's rules_.'

Donna didn't seem offended in the slightest. If anything, her smile grew wider. _'I've been told about Batman's paranoia. Don't worry.'_

Wally had to laugh at that. He looked over at Dick to see him similarly struggling with laughter when a very recognizable hero cleared his throat. The whole room went silent. All conversation died down, and Wally's voice caught in his chest. He turned around and saw that both Superman and Batman seemed to be done talking. Superman was surveying the crowd like he was about to speak, "Everyone, as you know, we are all here because we received credible information that a Manhunter attack is impending."

Wally tried not to feel like everyone was suddenly looking at him. Because, after all, _he_ was the source of that 'credible information'.

"We don't know exactly when the attack will hit us," Superman's voice carried out over the crowd like thunder. "But we _will_ be ready for it. The League has been training for weeks for this, and thanks to the help we received from the Green Lantern Corps, we're well-equipped for the fight."

"It'll take place on two fronts," Batman explained without moving from his spot. His voice wasn't as loud and was much more abrasive, but it instantly drew all the attention in the room. "The Green Lanterns and any other hero able to withstand the conditions of space will be our front lines. They will intercept the battle first and engage outside the Watchtower. The rest of us will handle the battle _inside_. Mister Terrific will operate the Watchtower's defenses and keep the core stabilized, and everyone else will split into squads and spread out to combat the threat where needed. Make no mistake; they _will_ get through, and their goal is to eliminate every single one of us."

Not for the first time, Wally felt his insides twist themselves into knots. Leave it to Batman to terrify instead of inspire.

"We need to watch each other's backs and work together to defeat this enemy," Superman seemed to sense the all around nervousness and took over. "This isn't just Earth we're defending. The Manhunters are a threat to every planet with life in the universe. We _must_ succeed."

That seemed to puff out everyone's chests with determination. Wally didn't need the motivational speeches. He didn't know if it was selfish or not, but he already knew what he was protecting and didn't require anything else to keep him going.

Superman and Batman were ordering the assembled Leaguers into teams when Dick nudged Wally's elbow and spoke in a low voice, "You look like you're really hoping that you're not wrong about this."

It took him a moment to figure out what Dick meant. Yes – in a way, Wally hoped that he hadn't read Professor Zoom's signs wrong. It would be extremely embarrassing to be the one who pulled the false alarm on a doomsday event, especially when he was in the middle of the entire Justice League and a good, hefty portion of the Green Lantern Corps. Wally could only imagine the glares he'd get if the Manhunters never showed up. But, then again…

"Considering the alternative, I really wouldn't mind being wrong all that much," Wally whispered back. In fact, now he really _wanted_ to be wrong.

Very soon after, all the Leaguers were divided up into teams, and the heroes fighting in space exited the Watchtower to coordinate with the Lanterns. All the teams were well-formed – equal in strength and experience, averaging four to five heroes each. Wally's team was assigned to stay together despite numbering eight. He supposed that was because of their age and inexperience. For once, that didn't insult him.

The Team spoke mostly through M'gann's mind link after that, coming up with whatever they could talk about to keep their thoughts off of the looming battle. Roy came by and dragged Wally, Dick, and Kaldur aside to basically threaten them with death if they let themselves get hurt. He only stayed a few minutes before he had to leave with his own team once Batman gave the order for everyone to go to their assigned sections of the Watchtower.

The Team was assigned to the observation deck along with a second team consisting of Black Canary, Vixen, Atom Smasher, and Fire. If he took the time to really think about it, Wally probably would have been suspicious of the fact that they were the closest team to the zeta transport. Their mentors may have been trying to give them a last minute escape if they wanted it, but Wally decided to think that it was random. None of his teammates were the type to run to save themselves.

They coordinated a plan with Black Canary's group, turned on their communicators, and waited.


	25. Chapter 25

[The Watchtower

March 26, 19:30 EST]

Nothing happened for the first three hours. The Green Lantern sentries scouted the area around the Watchtower with nothing to report, and the League inside waited on full alert. The communicator chatter remained at a minimum except for status checks from each team's leader and correspondence with the League's three Lanterns – Hal, John, and Guy.

Everyone was quiet for the most part; the Team even refrained from telepathic conversation. Wally was starting to think that he really had read the signs incorrectly. He started composing an apology to the League in his head.

That's when the warnings started going off.

Wally saw the furthest out specks of green light start flashing soundlessly. He stopped rocking back on the heels of his feet and straightened like he'd been electrocuted. His heart stuttered to a halt, and his limbs went numb as his body made the transition to high alert. Beside him, he heard the shuffling noises of his teammates moving closer to the huge windows. The scout Lanterns kept pulsing with light like fireflies relaying the worst possible message.

"They're here," Black Canary said grimly right as tiny white and blue pinpricks of light joined the glowing green specks. It looked like the discharge of Manhunter weapons.

At the same time, the communicator in Wally's ear started filling with people shouting commands and Green Lanterns calling for backup. All of the visible Lanterns closest to the satellite took off to meet the threat head on. Something bumped against his shoulder, and Wally looked over to see Dick pressed very closely to his side. He tried to meet his eyes, but Dick's gaze was fixed firmly on the sudden rush of green comets rocketing away from the Watchtower.

At this distance, it was hard to make out who was who. Wally tried to see if he could spot Hal or John, but the Lanterns were too far away for his eyes to follow. A massive patchwork field of glowing energy constructs blazed into existence as dozens of Lanterns fought back as one. Luminous swords, axes, spears, and countless alien weapons and missiles Wally had never seen before arced and slashed at the incoming host of Manhunter androids.

He watched breathlessly as Manhunter after Manhunter was cut down, detonating in small plumes of fire and circuitry. It just kept going on without any breaks in the destruction. He couldn't see anything of the Manhunters except their energy blasts and explosions, but it looked like a slaughter. And the Manhunters were losing. Badly.

There was no way it was going to be this easy. Wally knew that he'd destroyed 200,000 of them, but there were bound to be way more of them out there.

One of the Lanterns went dark.

Wally saw the green light flicker out and turn into a thin glowing streak that shot off to the side away from the battle. His body went cold. That looked like a ring flying off. Hal had told him once that when a Green Lantern dies, their ring returns to Oa and then goes on to find a new recruit. That meant that a Green Lantern had just been killed.

The distant battle raged on, getting more intense by the second. The Manhunters became larger as they got closer to the Watchtower, and Wally could make out details on their armor now. He couldn't tell how much time had passed; minutes felt like hours. Before they knew it, the fight was right outside the windows. Two Lanterns bifurcated a Manhunter that got too close to the satellite. Both halves rotated aimlessly in space, one of the arms still firing off energy blasts.

A host of ten broke through the Lanterns and charged the windows. It looked like they were about to smash right through the glass when Wally heard the Watchtower power up all around him. Artemis drew her bow and nocked an arrow, Kaldur suddenly had his water-bearers in hand, and Donna pulled the lasso from her belt. Wally started vibrating at a low frequency, still puzzling over the mechanical whirring coming from the walls and floor. Dick palmed two birdarangs uneasily, and Wally could see his whole body tense in preparation.

The Manhunters flew closer, one bringing its baton around to aim at the window. The tip glowed blue-white, and Wally went rigid along with his teammates.

A lightning fast beam of light shot right through the closest Manhunter's chest, frying its core and deactivating it on the spot. Instants later, a flurry of lasers followed the first, cutting into the squad of Manhunters in controlled bursts of pinpoint accuracy. The now motionless androids bounced harmlessly against the glass with detached arms and legs drifting away.

Wally slowly straightened up and looked over to the right where Black Canary and her group were standing. She was staring hard at the broken Manhunters, but her stance was relaxed like she'd known they wouldn't get through. When she noticed the rest of the Team watching her in confusion, she nodded to the space station all around them and gestured to a point on the outside above the view of the windows, "It's the defense system. Mister Terrific's operating it; he'll be able to buy us a few minutes. Watch."

Wally was unsure, but he listened to her anyway and turned his attention back to the fight. Seconds later, another group of Manhunters burst past the Lanterns. This time, an orbital cannon floated into view and launched missiles at the intruders in conjunction with the lasers. They both cut down the squad with ease, but Wally could see more Manhunters swarming beyond the line of Green Lanterns. The numbers were growing so large that they were about to get overwhelmed. He saw the various Lantern constructs start to change more from weapons to defensive shields as they lost ground and were pushed back.

The Watchtower's weapons were busy keeping the Manhunters back, shooting down one after another when they got too close. Every now and then, Wally caught a glimpse of a red cape and knew that Superman was out there wreaking havoc. He saw Captain Atom smashing apart androids right and left.

But they were still coming. The Green Lanterns were scattered now, easily outnumbered twenty to one, but still fighting. And every time, the Manhunters would manage to get just a bit closer before the defenses could shoot them down. Wally tensed up once more, eyes fixed on the windows and the violent light show just outside. Any minute now, one would get through. There were too many. Mister Terrific would eventually miss one, and they'd get in.

_"Recogn-"_

The Watchtower's announcement fizzled out with a loud, screeching wail of static, and Wally could hear the zeta tubes beside them hum to life. Startled, he looked over to the left and saw clusters of half-teleported figures in each of the three zeta terminals. The blinding beams of light faded, and he could suddenly see fifteen Manhunters standing not twenty feet away from them. Wally stared at them in disbelief. How the hell had they hijacked the zeta transport?! Wally hadn't given up _any_ of the codes when he was tortured. Had they hacked the system somehow?

 _"Get down!"_ Black Canary thundered suddenly from behind them.

The Manhunters raised their batons and fired a barrage of energy blasts right at them. Wally grabbed Dick and Zatanna and hit the deck as the blasts soared over their heads, missing them by inches. The others' reactions were much slower. Artemis lifted her bow in front of her and blocked one of the blasts but caught another in the shoulder. Donna jumped in front of her and deflected a few of the blasts with her bracelets while Conner shielded Kaldur, taking two hits for him. Another second later, M'gann was throwing both arms out in front of her and redirecting the blasts away from them with her telekinesis.

Wally heard Black Canary's boots thundering against the metal floor as she sprinted towards them. She stopped just beside Kaldur and Conner, sucking in a deep breath of air and releasing a deafening, concussive scream at one of the zeta tubes. The Manhunters inside were all thrown back together in a heap of twisted limbs.

_"Recognize-"_

The zeta tubes fired up again, and Wally saw more towering shapes emerging.

"Destroy the zeta tubes!" Black Canary yelled hoarsely. She ran forward and directed another cry at the downed Manhunters. Steel buckled under the force, and the tube started to collapse in on itself.

From the floor, Artemis aimed her bow sideways and fired an arrow into the second zeta tube. It dug deep into a Manhunter's chest and exploded on impact, tearing the Manhunter apart from the inside and cutting into the inner cylinder of the tube. Artemis fired another arrow into the gash of exposed circuits and wires, blowing the side of the tube out and sending great pieces of shrapnel into the tight cluster of Manhunters.

Dick rose from his crouch suddenly, dodging energy blasts and hurling two birdarangs into the control panel of the third tube. They sparked off of each other and electrocuted the whole tube, powering it down before the second wave of Manhunters could materialize. Half-teleported limbs and torsos hit the ground, still twitching and moving around despite missing the rest of their bodies.

 _"Wols meht nwod!"_ Zatanna cried, and four of the nine surviving Manhunters started moving as if in slow motion. Kaldur's tattoos flared bright blue, and he started up the flow in his water-bearers. He stepped out from behind Conner and sliced two thin jets of hyper-accelerated water diagonally across one of the Manhunter's cores in an 'X'. The android went rigid for a moment and fell apart into four cleanly severed pieces, the glow in its eye sockets going dark. Kaldur seemed momentarily surprised by the effectiveness of his new weapons, but he recovered quickly and turned on another Manhunter that was sluggishly raising its baton at them.

Conner launched himself at another Manhunter and tackled it to the ground. He pinned it down with his knees and shoved his hand right into its chest with a loud screech of tearing metal. Donna lassoed another that went for his back and lifted it into the air, swinging it high into the wall with a cry of effort. The roped Manhunter hit the Watchtower's steel panels and flattened against it. Donna twisted in mid-air and swung the Manhunter over her head and into the floor, brutally finishing the job.

Wally sped right at one of the Manhunters that had escaped Zatanna's spell and grabbed its arm, using his momentum to throw it away from the others and into the third zeta tube that Dick had disabled. Inside, some of the crippled Manhunters still had their cores intact and were able to shoot their batons and pistols. Wally ducked under an energy blast and vibrated his arm to the correct frequency, thrusting it into the wall of the zeta tube and dragging it all the way to the back and through the other side. He darted out of the tube and beyond the blast radius just in time. It went critical mass a second later and ripped apart, crushing the Manhunters inside.

He saw Vixen touch a stone fox face totem around her neck, and an invisible energy wrapped around her entire body. She agilely dodged her way through the volley of energy blasts that a Manhunter fired at her and leapt into the air, delivering a powerful kick to its head. The Manhunter fell onto its back, and Vixen was on it in a second. Her clawed hands slashed at its chest, tearing deep gashes into the metal with each swipe until she had the core in her claws.

Atom Smasher grew larger and taller until his head was almost brushing the cavernous ceiling of the observation deck. He snatched up a Manhunter in two massive hands and ripped it in half with ease, shrugging off the energy blasts hitting his knees like they were nothing.

M'gann caught one with her mind, smashing it into a second Manhunter that Fire was melting. There were only two left now. Dick front flipped over one as it swung its baton at his head. He landed on its arm and pulled a birdarang from his belt, lodging it into the Manhunter's back and jumping off in a roll. The razor sharp projectile detonated in both directions, blowing out the Manhunter's chest and taking off its head.

Kaldur finished off his second kill with an assist from Black Canary, who kicked the Manhunter's legs out from beneath itself and set up the opening for Kaldur to carve the core out with his water-bearers. She got to her feet, breathing heavily from using her powers so extensively and tossed her hair out of her eyes.

"Destroy all the zeta tubes!" Black Canary ordered into her communicator, breathlessly warning the rest of the League and trying to give them a heads up – that is if they weren't already under attack from the four other zeta tube locations in the Watchtower. "The Manhunters can get in through them!"

Wally heard Green Arrow, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Black Lightning respond on the communicator and the sounds of massive force destroying metal before the transmissions cut off.

"They're trying to trap us in here," Fire said in a thick, Brazilian accent. The light green flames engulfing her body died down, and her facial features returned to normal.

Donna floated back to the floor, drawing her lasso in as she landed gracefully. Kaldur used his water-bearers to direct the water he'd used back into his pack, and Zatanna seemed to be trying to internally shake off the attack. M'gann was close beside her, and Wally would've bet anything that they were speaking mentally.

"That's fine," Black Canary said grimly, moving to inspect Artemis' shoulder. It was a little burnt, but wasn't bleeding, and she seemed able to move it alright. Black Canary pulled a small bottle of emergency burn spray from her jacket and quickly treated the wound. "None of us are planning on running away."

Outside, the battle was becoming even more deadly. Wally could see Hal now, battling seven Manhunters by himself and steadily losing power in his shield as relentless waves of energy blasts washed over it. A ghostly translucent Martian Manhunter flew to his aid. He came up behind two of the Manhunters and thrust both arms through their cores, becoming solid once more and ripping out fistfuls of wires. That gave Hal a free side that he could put his back to and drop his shield.

He put all of his ring's energy into one powerful sword construct and cleaved the other five Manhunters right in half. An instant later, three more Manhunters were on him, colliding with the force of a bus and knocking him completely out of view of the windows.

Wally took a deep breath and tried to force down the panic and concern welling up inside him. He turned away from the windows and focused on Dick instead to keep his mind busy. He couldn't let himself get distracted. Hal was a veteran hero and one of the League's big guns. He could handle himself. Wally was only going to get _himself_ hurt if he accidentally let his guard down because he was worrying about someone else.

"Do _not_ forget to put up your shields," Black Canary finished with Artemis' shoulder and held up a gloved hand to show the sturdy metal loop around her wrist. "We can't afford to make any mistakes. This is life and death up here."

Wally looked down at his arm in surprise. Sure enough, his shield was on his glove, inactive and quiet. He felt alarm jolt him upright. He'd totally forgotten about it! Wally quickly activated the shield and heard the invisible barrier expand around him. When he glanced at his teammates, he found that they were all doing the same thing. It was more scary than embarrassing, but fortunately no one else mentioned the reckless oversight.

"And remember what Kilowog said," she kicked a deactivated Manhunter onto its back and bent down to retrieve a long energy staff from beneath it. "If you see a Manhunter weapon, take it. There's no reason to waste our own ammo when we have theirs."

As soon as she said that, both squads started sifting through the wreckage and tried to salvage whatever weapons they could find. Wally zipped over to one of the smoldering zeta tubes and scooped up an energy pistol that had skidded free of the crushed Manhunters inside.

The pistol felt odd in his hands. He wasn't really a gun type of person, but the other weapons would be too heavy for him. He needed to be light on his feet. Plus, as he'd discovered when he was escaping from the Manhunter base in Siberia, he had pretty decent aim.

Artemis went for the pistols as well, but Zatanna and Kaldur chose the same as Black Canary. Conner and Donna bypassed the weapons altogether. They would probably only get in the way; both Donna and Conner were more effective without them. M'gann unsurely levitated a staff with her mind and turned it over to inspect it. Dick went straight for two smaller batons and slid them into the holsters strapped to his thighs. They were only a little longer than the eskrima sticks he sometimes used, so he wouldn't have any trouble adjusting to them.

Atom Smasher bent down to pick up a heavy energy staff with two fingers and brought it up to his masked face. It looked like a toothpick compared to him. A hysterical bubble of laughter tore free from Wally's mouth unbidden, and everyone looked at him. He shut up quickly and looked down at his feet sheepishly, "Sorry…I don't know…"

"No," Black Canary suddenly grinned at him mischievously, resting the baton against her shoulder and placing one hand on her hip. "That's good. We want to keep our morale high. It's more important than you'd think."

"How about a wager?" Vixen languidly picked metal shavings from her claws. She crooked one finger right at Kaldur and sent him a devilish smirk. "Let's see which squad can do the most damage, shall we?"

Kaldur's answering smile actually helped Wally feel more at ease, "I would say that we have an extensive lead then."

"Consider it a handicap," Black Canary chuckled with her head held high. "Just wait for the real fighting to begin."

Atom Smasher cracked his knuckles ominously, and it sounded like boulders tumbling down a mountainside. Artemis scoffed, " _Please!_ We've got Kid Mouth on _our_ team, and he's already taken out more than all of you combined."

Wally's team rallied behind that, but he just sort of half smiled awkwardly when Fire and Vixen eyed him up to assess the statement. He still wasn't really used to this, and he was kind of wondering what it said about all of them that they were trying to have fun with something as dangerous as the apocalypse. Dick bumped his shoulder reassuringly and laughed at Black Canary's team, "We'll let you have a head start if you want – since you're so disadvantaged and all…"

Vixen grinned widely and looked like she was about to counter with a retort when the whole Watchtower jerked violently like something massive had rammed into it. Everyone was knocked off their feet and thrown to the ground from the sudden force. Wally hit his head on the metal tile and lay dazed for a minute while a deep, bone-vibrating alarm started going off above them.

"What is that?!" M'gann asked from the floor. Beside her, Conner was gripping both ears with his eyes screwed shut in pain.

"It's the air pressure alarm!" Black Canary yelled over the blaring noise. "It means the hull's been breached!"


	26. Chapter 26

[The Watchtower

March 26, 20:00 EST]

Roy held onto the support beam as tightly as he could, the muscles in his arms straining to their limits and the joints threatening to pop. He squeezed his eyes shut and screamed out in pain and fury as he fought to keep from being sucked out into the vacuum of space through the gaping hole blown into the side of the central hub. Debris and loose items around the station soared past him, darting through and ineffectually smashing into the platoon of Manhunters steadily climbing into the breach. Roy's fingers desperately tried to dig into the smooth metal beam, but they were unable to get a grip. He started slipping and put all his strength into trying to bring his legs in, but the force kept pulling them out straight. The leather straps across his chest holding his bow and quiver were creaking, and Roy contemplated releasing them if the loss of those few extra pounds would help him hang on longer.

He cracked one eye open and saw Question clinging to the next beam over. Unlike Roy, he'd managed to get on the side facing away from the breach and was faring much better. His fedora had gotten torn off, and his short black hair was blowing wildly in the rush of air escaping the room. His featureless face was eerily unlined by concern or fear, but his hands dug similarly into the metal for dear life.

Grifter and Big Barda were far worse off. They hadn't been near anything to grab onto when the fortified hull gave way, and so they'd very nearly been pulled out into space. At the last second, Barda had literally punched right through the floor and dug her arm in up to the elbow before grabbing the back of Grifter's criss-crossing, shoulder gun holster. Her helmet had also been lost, and the Apokaliptian weapon she'd called a Mega-Rod had almost soared through the hole in the Watchtower along with it before it hit the wall and stuck fast from the force.

Roy had the sudden thought that if he was in Grifter's shoes right now, he would be petrified. The blond hero had absolutely nothing to hold onto and was relying on the strength of the buckles and straps on his holsters and the fingers in Barda's hand. Grifter also had a front row seat to the Manhunters advance and was the first target in line for slaughter, because there was no way any of them could fight back this way.

He was wrong.

Impossibly, Grifter forced his arms up to the holsters on his hips and drew two semi-automatic pistols. The red bandana he had tied around his face as a mask billowed in the wind, and Roy could have sworn he saw the sinister black domino mask printed on it narrow like he was glaring a challenge at the advancing Manhunters. He started firing at the androids with inhuman accuracy, only targeting the one thin ridge where two plates of the armor met directly over the core. The special bullets that the League developed for him hit their mark every time, tearing through the weak points in the armor like it was made of paper.

Two of the Manhunters deactivated instantly on impact, and a third started convulsing as electricity crackled along its body. The others fanned out after that, flying on either side of Grifter and Barda against the buffeting air currents. Roy's mind scrambled to come up with _something_ , anything to do. He craned his neck to look back at Question only to find that he was gone. Frantic, Roy looked back to the breach. Had he been pulled through!? Roy hadn't seen it happen.

Barda waited for one of the Manhunters to go after Grifter before she acted, _"Shoot left!"_

She heaved the arm supporting him out to the side and flipped onto her back. The Manhunter flew directly over her, and she kicked it square in the chest with a loud crunch of metal, sending it soaring into the ceiling. Grifter adjusted to the change in angle flawlessly, firing bullets just a little off target to compensate for the wind currents. That kind of calculation on the fly would have taken Roy _minutes_ , and even then, it would have taken him a few arrows before he hit his mark. Grifter just kept shooting down Manhunters like he was hunting turkeys. Blindfolded. In the middle of a hurricane.

However, it wasn't long before they were overrun.

Grifter ran out of bullets and scrambled to reload while Manhunter energy blasts splashed across the invisible shield surrounding him. Barda took her hits directly – she'd refused to accept one of the Green Lanterns' shield generators – and while her armor and superhuman durability held up just fine, she was still stuck in one place.

 _"Keep holding on!"_ An urgent voice suddenly called through Roy's communicator. _"I'm trying to close the breach!"_

It was Mister Terrific. Through the communicator, Roy could hear him frantically manipulating the Watchtower's defenses. He had worked his hardest to shoot down the Manhunters outside with the lasers and orbital guns, but they had rushed in all at once, and he hadn't been able to keep them out.

"Hurry up!" Roy shouted into his own communicator. They didn't have much longer.

One of the Manhunters landed beside Barda and closed a hand around her throat. She thrashed side to side in fury, teeth gritted and eyes flashing dangerously. A second android leveled its energy baton right at the arm she had firmly planted in the floor and started firing at her shoulder to break her grip.

Grifter shoved a new clip into the butt of his gun and swung his arm over to shoot both Manhunters right in the face. The bullets ripped through their heads, and they fell back, still active but wounded. They were both sucked out of the hole and out of sight. Barda kicked a third Manhunter away from her and eyed Grifter in confusion, her long black hair whipping around her face, "A headshot will not vanquish our enemies for good."

"Sorry, sweetheart," Grifter shrugged with a laugh. "Old habits die hard. Besides, it seemed to do the trick."

The change in angle was causing his mask to flap to the side, revealing the lower half of his face with every movement. He was grinning – actually _smiling_ – like this was fun or something. Roy watched them both in disbelief and held onto his pillar.

What the hell kind of people had he been teamed up with?!

 _"Alright! I've got the nanobots prepared. Get ready for a fight!"_ Mister Terrific warned them all, and Roy wondered what he was talking about. How was he going to close up torn metal?

He looked over his shoulder at the gaping maw and squinted his eyes to see better. The edges of the twisted panels were starting to glow bright red, and it actually looked like the hole was getting…smaller? The metal was rapidly knitting itself back together but not fast enough. One of the Manhunters peeled off from the attack on Big Barda and Grifter and flew towards Roy. He felt his heart start beating faster, and he frantically took stock of the arrows in his quiver, trying to decide which one to make a grab for and whether or not the action would sacrifice his grip on the pillar. Probably…

He was just mentally preparing himself to let go when a veritable tidal wave of luminescent green suddenly swept past the hole in the wall. It slammed into the cluster of Manhunters trying to enter and knocked them completely aside. Then a convex patch of green light covered the gash, sealing it and ending the buffeting rush of escaping oxygen. Beyond the green film, Roy could see Kilowog fly into view, arm extended at the construct and keeping it firm.

Roy released the pillar and hit the floor without anything trying to fling him out into space. The Manhunter heading straight for him missed and crashed into the support beam instead. Roy rolled onto his feet and automatically drew his bow and nocked an armor piercing arrow. The tip started rotating like a drill, and he shot the Manhunter in the back. His arrow burrowed through the shiny red and blue metal, sending shavings flying all over as it hungrily dug its way to the core.

Heavy stomping alerted him to another Manhunter coming up behind him, and Roy turned to meet it right as a third Manhunter was thrown into it like a speeding car, sending both tumbling harmlessly aside. He jerked back in surprise and saw Barda posed like a baseball pitcher a few feet away. She straightened up with a dark grin and ran to where the nanobots were just finishing up the patch. She grabbed her Mega-Rod and pulled it free of the wall with no effort. Aiming it at the Manhunters, she started returning fire, dodging blasts and making her way to each android one at a time.

Roy readied another arrow and quickly surveyed the arena, trying to get a deep breath with the air so thin now. There were no less than two dozen Manhunters in the central hub with them, firing an endless supply of energy blasts. Barda was charging through them like a wrecking ball while Grifter backed himself against a wall and picked off the stragglers, slowly corralling them into one big group.

Roy wasn't sure what he was doing, but he followed Grifter's lead and gradually helped force the Manhunters into the center of the room. His shield took a few heavy hits in the process, but Roy dodged most of the energy blasts. He was just about to go for the last straggler when Barda kicked it into the others and backed off from the fight.

Roy was just about to question the odd behavior when he heard Grifter's edgy voice through his earpiece, _"Go for it, Red. You've got the heavy artillery."_

It took him a moment to figure out what they wanted him to do and then he realized. Roy drew an explosive birdshot arrow and let fly high over the Manhunters' heads. The arrow lobbed into the air and landed in the middle of the tight grouping. The arrowhead hit the floor and fell apart into fifty small metal marbles. They bounced and rolled in all different directions, scattering among the Manhunters before detonating in fifty separate explosions.

The blast completely tore the androids apart. Heavy limbs and armor pieces went flying with a deafening boom, and the Manhunters collapsed. Roy let his arm fall to his side and watched Grifter come out from behind the support beam he'd taken cover by.

"Shoot the ceiling."

Roy just about jumped out of his skin at the sound of the cool, calm voice behind him. He whipped around in alarm and saw Question casually leaning against the pillar Roy had been clinging to just a few minutes before. He had his arms crossed over his chest and his damn _hat_ was back on his head! How the hell…?!

He crooked one finger upwards, and Roy's eyes followed the direction until he was looking at a wide circle of extensive spider webbing cracks in the ceiling right above the downed Manhunters. A small red 'x' had been sprayed at the center of the circle.

Roy frowned and looked back at Question blankly, "Where the hell have you _been_?"

"Destabilizing the girders in the ceiling," he replied easily, tugging his gloves further onto his hands like the statement made any sense at all.

"How did you even get up there…?" Again, Roy wondered who these people were.

Without another word, he shot an explosive arrow at the 'x', and the ceiling shattered like glass. Four thousand pounds of giant metal chunks came plummeting down onto the Manhunters to finish the job.

Grifter strolled towards the mountain of twisted Manhunters and steel, whistling appreciatively. He hopped from jagged slab to slab and started inspecting the damage, shooting any android he found that was still alive, "That was quite a trick arrow, Red. You come up with that by yourself?"

"Mostly," Roy shrugged. Wally had helped him a little bit with reducing the weight of the arrowhead.

Grifter reached back and tightened the knot on his mask, lazily ruffling his blond hair and sliding both guns back into the holsters strapped to his hips, "I like your style."

Roy wanted to ask what style he was referring to – the one where he clung helplessly to a metal pole while everyone else was busy being a badass or the one where he just stood there gaping like a rookie and watching everyone else be badasses.

Barda saved him from having to respond. She reached into the pile of smoking android husks and pulled free a heavy energy staff, looking it over closely before tossing it aside once more in favor of her Mega-Rod, "For three humans with no superpowers, you all fight remarkably well."

Roy rolled his eyes, but Grifter and Question didn't seem the least bit insulted. Grifter just laughed darkly and cocked his head towards her, "Who said I didn't have superpowers?"

He held one gloved hand palm up at the energy baton Barda had discarded, and it lifted into the air by itself. Roy watched in wide-eyed shock as the baton twirled and cart wheeled. Then he heard Grifter's voice in his head – not through the communicator – through his _thoughts_.

_"I like to think I'm…super handsome. Though, you guys can't tell – not with the mask an' all."_

Roy bristled suddenly, glaring at Grifter, who absolutely _had_ to be winking at Barda beneath his mask, "You have telepathy and telekinesis, and you _didn't use either_ while we were fighting just now?! _Why_?!"

Grifter shrugged, sitting down on one of the metal slabs and jerking his thumb at the Apokaliptian, "It's more exciting fighting without the powers. Besides, Big Beautiful over there might not have saved me if used them. And that woulda broke my little heart."

Barda raised an eyebrow at him, clearly unamused and towering over all of them by at least a foot, "I'm married."

"I don't care if you don't," Grifter chuckled suavely, resting his chin on his fist.

Roy's head almost popped. He threw his arms up in frustration, gesturing furiously at the now repaired gash in the side of the Watchtower, "You didn't _need_ her to save you! We all could have died just now, and your powers really would've helped!"

"Nah," Grifter said, getting to his feet once more and dusting off his black, army grade pants. "We got this."

"Where is Question?" Barda asked suddenly, looking all around the room with half-lidded eyes and thinly veiled superiority.

Roy's rage quieted for a moment, and he too glanced behind him where Question had been leaning on the pillar. The faceless hero was gone. Again. Roy sighed angrily and rubbed at his eyes. He was fairly sure that he wanted a new team.

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[Earth's Thermosphere

March 26, 20:15 EST]

It wasn't so much like fighting a few Manhunters in outer space as it was trying to move in a _sea_ of Manhunters. Hal had gone to an outdoor, standing room only rock concert once when he was in high school. This was not all that different. Except for, y'know, all the death and destruction.

Hal held his ring fist out in front of him, bracing his arm still with his other hand. He was putting every ounce of his concentration into keeping his shield up, but this was _not_ his default mode of combat. He was more of a 'charge headlong into the fight, defense be damned' kind of guy.

"Isn't there any end to these things?!" Hal growled, trying to hold his construct together with a trio of Manhunters relentlessly attacking it. He willed the construct into a blunt spike and rammed it into the androids, doing a quick back flip to avoid the blasts. The Manhunters were knocked back, and Hal took the opening. He changed his light construct into a giant Gatling gun and held it at his side while he mowed down any that got too close to him.

"What's wrong, Jordan? Things getting too intense for you?"

Hal looked up and saw Guy several meters above him, actually punching a Manhunter in the gut with a glowing, spiked gauntlet the size of Kilowog's foot.

Ugh. _Meathead._

Guy spun around and morphed the gauntlet into a giant tennis racket.

"Comin your way!" he yelled and swung the racket into a tight group of Manhunters, sending them all rocketing straight at Hal.

Hal quickly made a racket as well and smashed it into the incoming humanoid missiles, breaking them into pieces.

…effective meathead…

"This ain't a game, poozers!" Kilowog bellowed, his ring going off with the sound of sonic booms. "Get serious!"

Guy just grinned and straightened his bomber jacket before flying off with a salute, "Yes sir!"

Hal spared him a half-hearted glare and pivoted when he heard one of his fellow Lanterns cry out. Violet-skinned and fiery haired Laira was getting pummeled. Two Manhunters had her by the arms and were trying to crush her ring hand.

"Heads up!" Hal shouted at her and threw a full coach bus at the Manhunters.

Laira looked up at the sound of his voice and neatly flipped vertical as the bus construct barreled into the robots. She materialized a jagged spear and drove it down into the neck plate of a Manhunter and all the way through its back. Giving it a vicious twist, she pulled the spear free and sent it flying into another Manhunter, "Watch your back, Jordan!"

Before he had time to react, an energy blast hit him square between the shoulder blades like a bowling ball. It knocked the air from his lungs in one staggering jolt. Hal recovered quickly and used the momentum to invert and shoot the Manhunter with a beam of pure light. He dragged it in an arc over his head, slicing through a line of Manhunters going after another Lantern. An energy blast crashed into his shoulder and nearly dislocated it. Hal just grit his teeth and returned fire.

That was when he caught sight of the Watchtower's observation deck windows. Manhunters were blanketed along the windows like insects, systematically firing at the glass in waves. Through the gaps between red and blue armor, Hal could see Atom Smasher, Vixen, and half of Aqualad's leg.

His stomach dropped into his knees.

That was where Wally and Dinah were. If the Manhunters got through…

"Shit," Hal cursed, making a beeline for the Watchtower. Barry and Ollie would electrocute him and shoot him full of arrows if he let anything happen to them. He touched his communicator as he flew, "They're breaking into the observation deck! Supes, I need backup!"

 _"I'm on the other side keeping them away from the hangar,"_ Clark's voice buzzed in his ear and Hal could hear explosions and thunderous bangs through the link. _"I can't leave!"_

Hal swore loudly, and he pushed himself faster. Huge cracks were starting to break into the glass panels. There had to be fifty Manhunters converging on it; there was no way it would hold much longer. Four of the cracks branched out into larger forks like lightning.

"Terrific, you're about to get a new port hole in the side of the Watchtower!" Hal hailed the reactor core where he knew Mister Terrific was operating the tower's defenses. "Get ready!"

In response, half of the orbital guns reversed direction and hugged close to the hull so that the glass wasn't damaged inadvertently. They all opened fire on the Manhunters in an attempt to dislodge them, but it was too late.

Hal watched in horror as the glass broke inwards and was blown out right after as the vacuum of space greedily started sucking out air and great hunks of shattered glass. He saw every figure in the room get pulled off their feet and dragged towards the breach before jerking to a halt in midair like something invisible had grabbed onto them. He didn't waste another instant, creating a wide, expansive rectangular patch and clamping it firmly over the entire window. His actions shoved all of the Manhunters _into_ the Watchtower with Wally and Dinah's teams, but it sealed the jagged gash and stopped the rush of air threatening to sweep everyone to their deaths. He just hoped they could handle the fight he'd trapped them in the middle of.

A barrage of energy blasts suddenly struck him in the back with no warning, and Hal nearly lost his grip on the light construct, _"No!"_

The translucent green patch wavered and flickered before he got control of it again and fortified his concentration. Hal twisted around to look over his shoulder and saw what looked like a hailstorm of energy blasts coming right at them. He felt his body turn cold. He couldn't shield himself with a construct _and_ hold the patch in place at the same time.

So, he drew his legs up to his chest and curled his arms in front of himself protectively as the energy blasts buffeted him like cannon fire. Agony slammed into him the second the first blast hit his forearm and continued to flare ever hotter as the rest of the blasts pelted his ribs, legs, and face. Hal gasped out and dropped a few feet to avoid the actual Manhunters that had fired the blasts. They corrected their trajectory seamlessly and darted down after them.

That was when the most detailed bulldozer construct Hal had ever seen collided into them from the side and knocked them away. He clutched his side and looked to the right through one eye that was rapidly swelling shut.

John was flying towards him with his ring arm leading the way, "You lookin to get yourself killed?"

"Gotta keep that patch up until Terrific rebuilds the windows with those nano-thingies," Hal rasped stubbornly, coughing up blood that floated aimlessly around him.

"Leave that to me," John nodded, reconstructing his bulldozer into a patch similar in size and shape to the one Hal was using, but this one was far superior. Out of all the Earth Lanterns, and a good majority of the entire Corps, John's constructs were the most intricate and stable. He fitted the angular, strong as steel patch over top of Hal's and secured it against the Watchtower's hull with a series of rivets all along the outer edges. "You go help Superman and Captain Atom defend the hangar. I'll handle this."

"You need someone to watch your back," Hal argued, trying not to smell the burning pieces of his own skin through the tears in his uniform. "Trust me."

"I've always been rather good at that," a fierce, female voice said from behind him. Hal twisted around and saw Katma approaching them. The Korugaran moved to John's side and clenched one red-skinned hand into a fist, taking up a clearly defensive position around him. She brushed her black hair out of her eyes and gave Hal a confident smirk.

Hal looked between his two comrades and made up his mind in a split-second. He retracted his construct and nodded, "Keep that patch up like your life depends on it."

He spared one last glance at the window and saw the heroes inside battling the Manhunters. Wally and Dick were fighting as hard as they could, attacking around each other and guarding each other's weak points like a well-oiled machine. Air distortions rippled in the wake of Dinah's muted screams as she cut loose, holding nothing back.

Hal hoped they would be fine. He sped off around the Watchtower and soared close to the hull, swerving around the orbiting defense weapons and dodging a crossfire of energy blasts and laser beams. He took sneak shots at the Manhunters as he went, taking out a dozen or so that were overwhelming his fellow Lanterns. One peeled away from the others and gave chase, obviously taking his attacks as more than cheap hits. It fired energy blasts at Hal from behind, gaining on him as they both flew along the Watchtower's outer hull.

He dodged the blasts by weaving back and forth through the space station's many jutting segments and wings. Turning onto his back as he flew, Hal returned fire. If there was one thing he knew how to do, it was fly. He'd been a pilot _long_ before he was accepted into the GLC, and he was still the best at it. This unoriginal, mass-produced robot couldn't hope to keep up with him. Hal headed straight for a certain bend in the underside of the living quarters segment that he was never able to resist flying through, even if it was completely out of his way.

Its purpose was to allow the segment to be jettisoned from the rest of the Watchtower as a safety precaution in case the need ever arose, but the curving, sharp cornered chutes made for irresistibly dangerous tunnels. Hal sped right into one, tucking his arms in close to his sides as he darted into the pitch black, narrow tunnel. The Manhunter followed him right in, shooting the whole way. Hal quickly twisted left, then right before timing it exactly right and diving down ninety degrees through the emergency escape hatch he'd never bothered to need before. Behind him, the Manhunter couldn't possibly adjust in time and crashed into the sides of the tunnel with a loud boom.

A huge grin split across Hal's face, and he came out on the other side of the living quarters, sparing a satisfied glance behind him before looking to the hangar.

The smile left his face.

The sheer number of Manhunters converging on the outer doors of the hangar was staggering. Hal could hardly even _see_ the doors. Superman was flying around with a speed that, while not nearly as fast as Barry's, was still difficult to follow with the eyes. He was punching his fist right through Manhunters, flinging them as far away into space as he could, melting them into unrecognizable lumps with his heat vision, and even freezing some solid with his breath. He took hits from the Manhunters like they were ants and just kept ripping them apart with his bare hands. But every time he took one out, twenty more rushed in to take its place.

Captain Atom was faring about the same. He was floating in the middle of a clustered sphere of androids. He absorbed blast after blast and repurposed the energy into his own beams, turning their weapons against them.

They were both barely able to keep _themselves_ from getting dog piled on by Manhunters, much less the hangar. Hal plunged into the fight, shoving aside the androids with his constructs to create a path to the bay doors. It was slow going, but he kept at it, indiscriminately slicing great gashes through the Manhunters until he was there.

The robots on the door ignored him for the most part, which was just insulting really.

Hal materialized a giant green paint scraper and wedged it between the Manhunters and the Watchtower. He pried about half of them off before he heard Superman shouting his name. He turned, ring blazing and ready for a Manhunter to be rushing at him or firing energy blasts.

What he found instead was a massive spacecraft the size of a cruise ship bearing down on them all from above. It wasn't poised to attack either, but instead coming about like it meant to dock. Hal shook off the surprise and forced his construct into a razor sharp harpoon launcher. He was gonna spear this thing and see how the Manhunters inside liked being towed out into the sun.

"GL, _STOP_!" Captain Atom called out frantically.

Hal paused in the middle of taking aim and looked over at his comrades in confusion.

Superman was furiously throwing off Manhunters left and right and trying to make eye contact with him. His pupils were glowing red with the signs that he was using his x-ray vision, "There are humans on board!"

Hal's stomach dropped and he looked back up at the ship. This was bad. Up until now, they'd all been able to fight with full power – breaking out the sharp weapons, no holding back, no pulling punches. But, with living humans as their enemies, they'd have to be more careful.

"Are they hostages or acolytes?" Hal shouted back, already knowing the answer.

"Acolytes," Superman confirmed.

Hal took a deep breath and glared at the ship. He couldn't let it get past him.


	27. Chapter 27

[The Watchtower

March 26, 20:30 EST]

Diana stood in the exact center of the Javelin bay, sword in one hand and her lasso hanging idly from the other. She kept her head high and posture rigid as she stared out of the narrow, rectangular windows in both of the airlock doors. Flashes of Hal Jordan's green constructs and quick bursts from the Manhunters' weapons were the only lights she could see against the black of space. Every now and then, a powerful attack would connect with the hull and make the Watchtower shudder. She just gripped the hilt of her short sword tighter and frowned darkly at the battle taking place just outside.

Beside her, Captain Marvel was unconsciously shifting his weight from foot to foot and looking around the hangar in wide-eyed unease. He ground his teeth anxiously, and the noise set Diana's nerves buzzing. Since getting over her initial disapproval of Billy's age and the fact that he'd kept it from them, Diana's relationship with the young hero had greatly improved. She'd tried to put forth the effort to make herself more accessible so that he could turn to her for advice and guidance if he wished for it. However, she still found him to be too immature and naïve sometimes.

Huntress and Ice were both perched atop two Javelins on either side of the airlock doors. Huntress had her crossbows loaded and ready, keeping her dark eyes fixed on where their targets would enter. Her whole body looked poised to strike.

"You might want to move out of the line of fire, Princess," Shayera called down from her place high above in the rafters.

Diana didn't look at her, "I face my enemies head on."

"Your funeral," Huntress remarked dryly. She was looking at Diana out of the corner of her eye and had one eyebrow cocked judgmentally.

Diana bristled at the verbal jab but did not give into her irritation. These were her teammates. It would not do to encourage dissension between them just before a battle. She would just have to _show_ them.

 _"Wonder Woman."_ Diana suddenly heard Clark's voice in her ears. _"There's trouble heading your way."_

"Get ready," she said quietly to her comrades. All four tensed in preparation, and Diana listened for more information.

 _"There's a Manhunter ship coming in to dock. Green Lantern took out its engines, but it's not slowing down, and we can't destroy it. There are living humans inside. Acolytes."_ Clark's voice came over the communicator.

Diana sighed internally. This was not good news. The acolytes would no doubt be armed with Manhunter weapons. On top of that, Diana and her team would be at a disadvantage. They could not fight full force and risk killing them.

She had no doubts that this was exactly what the Manhunters had intended – lying to and brainwashing humans only to use them as meat shields.

 _"Cowards,"_ she spat bitterly.

Above her, she could hear Hawkwoman's wings ruffling agitatedly, "It's cold is what it is."

"How many are on board?" Diana asked grimly into her microphone.

 _"Easily a hundred. I'm sorry, but we can't stop them. We can barely even_ move _as it is."_ His voice was tight and laced with frustration.

"Let them come," she took a deep breath to calm her fury and narrowed her eyes at the door. "You're more effective _outside_ the Watchtower. We will handle its defense from within."

The satellite lurched back from the impact of the ship, and both Huntress ad Ice were almost thrown from their Javelins.

 _"They're on you now,"_ was the last warning Diana received before static took over the frequency. She turned her earpiece off and tossed her hair out of her face, taking command of her troops.

"Ice, I want a thick, uneven coating on the floor. The acolytes will not be able to navigate in such treacherous terrain in heavy armor," she said very quickly. The white-haired heroine nodded and immediately got to work, holding out both hands and sending ripples of ice out from her position.

"Wait," Captain Marvel called in a tone much too boyish for his voice. "I know you, me, and Hawkwoman will be fine, but how will Huntress and Ice fight? They can't fly."

"Ice is the best adapted to the slick conditions out of all of us," Diana assured him.

"And I wouldn't have started fighting crime if I couldn't handle a little frost," Huntress said cockily, seeming not at all concerned. "Have you seen how cold Gotham gets in the winter?"

As Ice started creating tall, wide barricades beneath the wings of the Javelins for cover, Diana continued, "Huntress, stay out of sight and pick them off before they notice you. Aim for the joints and spine."

Again, Billy balked at her words, "But they're human! We can't kill them!"

"No," Diana agreed very calmly. "But these acolytes are traitors to their planet, no matter how misguided. We cannot end their lives, but we can _cripple_ them."

"I'm on board," Huntress grinned darkly while Billy paled in horror. Her penchant for using excessive force against villains was well-known. It usually only served to alienate her from the other Leaguers, but it was most welcome today.

"Captain Marvel and Hawkwoman, you will attack from the air," she went on, undaunted. "I will be in the middle with Ice. Is this understood?"

"Can you hear yourself?!" Billy looked distraught. "Talking about crippling people?! This isn't how the Justice League does things."

"It is not. You're right," Diana's voice softened, and she moved closer to Billy and placed a hand on his thick arm. "But we don't have a choice. Our world is at stake, and these acolytes absolutely knew what they were getting into when they signed up to attack the Justice League. Such reckless foolishness has repercussions."

"Can't we save them?" His eyes were full of fearful sadness as he stared up at her, and Diana was struck by how _good_ he was. He was still immature and naïve, but he was one of the kindest souls she'd met.

"We'll try," she spoke quietly with a regretful tone. "But we can't help _anyone_ if we are defeated here. You must protect yourself first, and we can deal with the acolytes when we are standing victorious at the end of the battle."

Billy still wasn't happy with the circumstances, but he remained quiet and accepted her reasoning with a dejected nod.

The airlock doors gave a great metallic clang that echoed throughout the hangar's high ceilings. The gears started grinding haltingly and then began slowly opening the outer door.

"They must have hacked into the system again like they did with the zeta tubes," Shayera slammed her Nth metal mace into her palm and made the spiked head spark and crackle with electricity.

Diana was unconcerned, "Don't try to stop them. We're ready."

She watched the outer doors slowly lift open wider and wider until Manhunter acolytes decked out in red and blue armored space suits and helmets started filling the wide docking area right in front of them. They just kept coming nonstop until Diana heard the doors grinding shut once more. The chamber hissed as the airlock vented with oxygen, and then the inner doors lifted open.

The acolytes within were laughably untrained. Instead of attacking before the doors were fully open, they just stood there in loose formation, unguarded. Huntress did not waste the opportunity. She unloaded a full magazine of crossbow bolts into the front line's kneecaps.

Apparently, their armor wasn't as impenetrable as that of the androids, because Diana saw several of the bolts sticking straight out of the metal.

The acolytes hit the ground in surprised howls of agony, and the ranks crumbled. Some of the quicker ones took cover behind the bodies of their wounded and returned fire, but Huntress had already disappeared into the shadows. Diana held her ground and brought her arms up to deflect the energy blasts. They were armed with an array of pistols, batons, and staffs. Diana intended to see if they knew how to use them.

Huntress continued to rain down bolts on them from a new direction, and when she paused to replace the cartridges, the acolytes rushed out of their cover. The first few lines barely made it two steps onto Ice's expansive deathtrap before losing their footing and crashing to the ground. The acolytes behind them likewise tripped over the prone bodies of their fellows and fell, sliding out in every direction.

It would have been comical if Diana wasn't so outraged at the blatant lack of regard that the Manhunters had for their underlings. They were being used as pawns – sacrificed for nothing. Diana shook the thought from her mind. This was not the time to feel sorry for her enemies.

Hawkwoman certainly didn't. She dove from her perch with a powerful cry and slammed her mace into the ground in the center of the fallen acolytes. Her mace erupted in great sparks that sent convulsing jolts into the acolytes. The shockwave from the impact slammed into the ones still standing and knocked them back in a wide ring.

While they were still down, the thick layer of ice beneath them reached up quickly with snapping and popping fingers to grow around their arms and legs like a prison. Hawkwoman swung her mace back for another attack and launched herself towards the airlock, energy blasts splashing harmlessly against her shield.

Diana was right behind her. An acolyte swung his staff down at her, and she blocked it with her sword, balancing her weight on one foot and kicking him back several yards. Diana threw out her lasso and looped another acolyte. She hooked her leg around the rope and dragged him to his knees, spun around, and swung him into four more acolytes. She uncoiled her leg and dropped to the floor to avoid a burst of energy blasts that soared right over her and kicked out the legs of the female acolyte beside her. She hit the floor flat on her back, and Diana drove an elbow into her gut. The metal caved in like a soda can over her ribcage, and Diana could hear the acolyte gasping to breathe.

She rolled back to her feet and tackled the nearest acolyte, similarly crushing the armor around him like a corset and tossing him aside. When she looked up, Diana saw Shayera knocking acolytes away right and left. Behind her, one raised its baton at the back of the Thanagarian's head. Diana hurled her lasso at the baton and ripped it from its owner's hands. Deftly catching it out of the air, she turned it around on the acolytes and fired at their legs.

Billy was taking a decidedly less violent approach. He landed behind the rest of the acolytes and clapped his hands together once, sending out a massively devastating concussive blast of sound. The windows of the Javelins shattered, and eardrums ruptured from the force. His one attack took down a third of the remaining acolytes.

Huntress and Hawkwoman steadily brought that number down further and further, taking hits to their shields instead of directly. Ice created a constantly shifting, frozen fortress out of the hangar. She directed the ice pillars to shoot out and take hits for her teammates, dissolve into mobile snow storms that blinded the acolytes, and trap anyone who was stationary for longer than five seconds.

They were winning – pushing the acolytes back and knocking them unconscious without any fatalities so far.

That's when the first shield finally broke. Shayera and Diana were both taking the most hits, being right in the middle of the fray, and it was the Thanagarian who lost the invisible barrier first. It shattered with an audible crack, but Hawkwoman paid it no heed. She just kept swinging her mace and hovering just above the field.

Two energy blasts hit her left wing at the same time. The first bent the wing inwards and ignited a small circle of feathers, and the second tore completely through it. Diana heard her let out a startled scream of agony and watched her drop to the floor amidst a crowd of Manhunters. They all turned their weapons on her and fired.

"Take them out!" Diana cried, sprinting to her friend's aid. She backhanded one acolyte out of her way, slammed the butt of her sword into another's face, and rolled between the legs of another, hamstringing them as she went.

Billy leapt into the air and landed right near Shayera, standing over her and using his own still active shield to cover her as well. He slugged an acolyte in the chest and delivered a powered down uppercut to a second.

Huntress peppered the rest of the acolytes with bolts, sacrificing her position to allow Diana a clear path. The acolytes turned their weapons on the violet clad hero next, and Huntress dropped to the floor as they destroyed the control room balcony she'd taken as her vantage point.

When Diana reached Hawkwoman, the winged warrior was already getting back to her feet with Billy's help. Her mask had been cracked open from the energy blasts, and she ripped it free of her head with a disgusted groan, eyes burning angrily and soft orange hair spilling down around her shoulders. Her injured wing tucked close to her side, the edges of the wound burnt but cauterized.

"Can you still fight?" Diana asked quickly as Shayera grabbed for her mace.

"Try and stop me!" Hawkwoman growled furiously. She took a few unsteady steps before finding her balance and breaking into a run at the acolytes, screaming in rage the whole way. Some of the untrained humans stood their ground as she advanced, but most backed away – alarm and terror radiating from their body language – and tried to flee.

Diana had to smile. These weren't emotionless Manhunter androids they were fighting. They were human – organic, imperfect humans – and they could be intimidated. Diana exchanged a look with Billy before throwing herself into battle once more. She twisted an acolyte's shoulder out of its socket and vaulted into a somersault midair to slam her heel into a featureless helmet.

She spun around to meet another acolyte head on when the Watchtower lurched again and most of them were knocked over. Diana widened her stance to stay upright, and her eyebrows turned downwards when the air pressure alert started going off again.

The danger was not in the hangar, so the breach must be in another part of the tower. Another violent quake struck, and Diana felt unease coil through her mind. Two hits. That meant _two_ breaches in the hull one right after the other. Mister Terrific and the Watchtower's defenses were getting overwhelmed, which meant that Superman's group and the Green Lanterns were faring the same.

She went into a frenzy, cracking open armor and breaking bones as fast as she could. They needed to end this battle quickly so they could help the other teams if necessary.

A few minutes later, Ice took out the very last acolyte with a massive, ice covered fist to the jaw. He fell down hard and stayed motionless while the five heroes took a moment to catch their breath. Diana sheathed her sword and took stock of her wounds. Only Huntress still had her shield intact. Diana's had shattered long ago, and now she had a few nasty burns on her shoulders and legs. It was nothing that would take her down like the first time she'd encountered a Manhunter though.

"Ice, can you patch up my wing?" Shayera was examining her injuries as well, and the fist-sized hole in her feathered appendage looked bad. Diana didn't know if it could be repaired.

"You shouldn't try to fly with it," she admonished breathlessly. "You could make it worse."

"I can handle it," Hawkwoman waved off her concern.

"Heads up," Billy suddenly straightened upright, both eyes fixed on the airlock doors. Diana turned around to look for herself and saw the windows lit up in violent, bright red light.

Clark had just used his heat vision to vaporize a host of Manhunters. An attack of that magnitude took a lot out of him and usually left him temporarily weakened for a time. If he was resorting to dangerous methods like that, then things were getting worse.

It soon became apparent why.

As soon as the red light faded, Diana saw the clusters of Manhunters covering the outside door. In an instant, her sword was back in her hand, and she was shouting for everyone to get ready. They were trying to break in. And, this time, it wouldn't be helmet covered humans attacking, but actual Manhunter androids. They'd used the humans to wear them out and were now coming themselves to finish the job.

Diana was so focused on the Manhunters beginning to break into the airlock that she didn't notice the lone acolyte that had been feigning unconsciousness get up behind them all and slip out of the hangar.

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[The Watchtower

March 26, 20:45 EST]

Barry ran as fast as the cramped space would allow. He dodged and weaved through energy blasts that moved so slowly that they seemed to be frozen in midair. He snatched energy pistols and batons right out of the hands of Manhunters and fired them to intercept energy blasts that were already on their way to his teammates. Dashing through a tightly compacted platoon of androids, Barry tore armor pieces off of every single one of them and cleared the area while Oliver sank arrows into the exposed, glowing green cores.

He ducked beneath sinister, black batarangs and skirted around Hawkman's gleaming Nth metal axe as he swung it back in a wide, slow motion arc. Barry went for a group of Manhunters in the corner that had all decided to go after Bruce at once. He darted to each one of them like a pinball machine, vibrating his hands into the robots quicker than they could begin to process.

They all detonated one after the other not seconds apart, throwing shrapnel everywhere.

On the other side of the monitor womb, a single Manhunter detonated seemingly by itself. Barry saw the fiery plume billow outwards and knew that Atom was behind it. He couldn't _see_ the shrunken down hero that selflessly offered to help protect his nephew's identity all those weeks ago, but he knew that Atom was there. When the Manhunters breached the hull and came pouring in, Atom had immediately gotten to work slipping between the miniscule gaps in the armor panels and rewiring the Manhunters' cores to explode.

Another one blew instants later, and Barry stopped letting himself be distracted. He sped up to a Manhunter and collided with it head on, leaning all his weight and momentum into sinking his fist into its chest. The blow completely caved in the armor plates and sent the android rocketing into the wall behind it, the force tearing off one of its arms in the process.

Barry's vision started fighting against him then, and he came to a sudden halt as soon as he felt it. Slipping into relative time was a neat trick, but Barry hadn't totally mastered it yet, and he was still afraid of getting stuck in it – forever moving so fast that the rest of the world seemed to be standing still in comparison. It was one of his most frequent night terrors.

When he slowed down enough for the Manhunters to actually see him, they locked on and began shooting at _him_ too. He still had little trouble dodging energy blasts, but now he was reentered into the direct teamwork equation.

Oliver had his hood thrown back and was running to avoid the blasts, rapidly shooting arrows as he went with incredible accuracy. One of the Manhunters leveled its baton at Hawkman's exposed back, and Oliver shot an arrow right into the barrel of the baton. The weapon backfired and exploded with a chain reaction that took out a cluster of seven Manhunters.

Stubbornly refusing to watch his own back, Katar plowed through the Manhunters, swinging his axe and literally chopping them down like trees. His shield had protected him from most of the energy blasts, but that was gone now. Angry red patches and blackened feathers covered his body, but he ignored them easily. He slashed open chest pieces with the long metal claws attached to his gauntlets and ripped out cores. When a Manhunter slammed its staff into his ribs with enough force to send him flying, Hawkman just rolled back to his feet and lifted up into the air to dive bomb them again with a furious roar.

Barry zoomed over to steal the weapon of a Manhunter that had realized Atom was inside it and had turned its pistol on itself to take him out. He fired right at a second Manhunter lightning fast until the pistol overheated and melted in his hand. Barry flung it aside and pointed both of his arms straight out at a small group of Manhunters converging on Bruce. He rotated them at superspeed and sent twin cyclones crashing into the androids, knocking them away.

Bruce bent backwards to duck beneath an energy baton swiped at his head. He pulled two thick metal discs from his utility belt and flipped onto the Manhunter's back, attaching them both to the sides of its head before jumping back off and rolling right up to another android. While he was hurling explosive batarangs into the chinks in its armor, the first Manhunter went rigid, jerking like it was short-circuiting. The lights in its eyes flickered erratically and then went out for good when the Manhunter slumped over, deactivated.

Barry smirked. Electromagnets.

"Good one, Bats," he grinned, zipping over to help Oliver.

"Now, why didn't I think of something cool like that?" the blond-haired archer looked comically dismayed, and then his expression twisted into an evil kind of glee. He reached into his quiver and shot another arrow at a Manhunter. This one burst open on impact and coated the android with a generous amount of thick, amber colored liquid. The Manhunter immediately started smoking, and Barry could see its metal armor start bubbling. The amber liquid was eating away at the Manhunter, quickly reducing it to a melted heap of scraps on the floor.

"An acid arrow?" Bruce said more than asked, looking decidedly unimpressed. Behind him, Hawkman soared past with two Manhunters on each arm. He slammed them into the wall and started tearing them apart.

Bruce just selected a smaller, lighter looking batarang and threw it high into the air, pressing a button somewhere on his glove. The sleek batarang fizzled in mid-air and sent out EMP waves, rippling outwards several yards and effectively killing thirty Manhunters in the process. Barry skidded to a stop and poked one of the deactivated Manhunters, knocking it over easily. He grinned over his shoulder at Oliver, who had a sour look on his face.

"Bats just threw down the gauntlet," he grinned. "You gonna just take that?"

Oliver's face lit up in determination, and he pulled four arrows out of his quiver at once, "Not likely."

"Contest is over," Bruce dismissed the impending challenge before it even began, running over to one of the downed Manhunters and hefting it into a corner where he started pulling off its armor pieces and faceplate. "Flash, I need you to cover me."

"You got it," Barry zipped over to him and took up a defensive position. "What's the plan?"

"Question and I have been developing a virus since the Watchtower was first attacked by the Manhunters," Bruce explained, producing a small holo-computer from somewhere in his belt and getting to work hooking it up to the damaged robot. "I needed an actual, current Manhunter to analyze in order to complete it."

"And you need me to keep them off you until you have it figured out," Barry finished the thought for him and sized up the remaining host of androids from where he was standing. Many of them were already stomping their way over and taking aim on the two heroes. "Not a problem. Leave it to me; I won't let a single energy blast through."

He didn't look back, but he heard Bruce's dark, brooding tones over his shoulder, "I know you won't."


	28. Chapter 28

[The Watchtower

March 26, 20:50 EST]

From the moment Hal saved them from getting sucked out into space, Dick fought harder than ever before in his life. Fifteen minutes in, everyone had lost their shields. They'd hardly been able to _move_ , let alone fight back. But, somehow, they'd managed it. Those first few minutes when the shields were still up, they'd all let loose their most powerful attacks, trying to take out as many Manhunters as possible.

Dick took shelter behind a deactivated Manhunter husk that was lying on its side. He hurled two birdarangs at a cluster of Manhunters and ducked down when they all detonated, listening as shrapnel whistled over his head. He leapt over the metal body and rushed into the carnage, finishing off the still activated Manhunters that had survived the blast.

A red and yellow blur sped past him, knocking Manhunters off their feet and disarming them. Dick smirked and raised the two batons he'd recovered earlier, opening fire on the defenseless androids. An energy blast came flying straight for his head, and Dick did a back bend to avoid it. He cart wheeled back to his feet, weapons up and ready to defend himself when he saw Wally with his arm elbow deep in the Manhunter's chest. His body was blurry with how fast he was vibrating, but Dick could very clearly see his eyes, narrowed in fury at the robot.

Wally flickered away, and then the Manhunter exploded.

Dick watched in awe, only tearing his eyes away when Wally reappeared next to him. He still couldn't wrap his mind around how _powerful_ Wally had gotten or the fact that he really was _his_ now.

"Thanks for having my back," he grinned, turning to throw another red birdarang at a Manhunter that had targeted them.

"That's not all I wanna have, babe." Wally's voice was suddenly in his ear, and Dick was so startled that he nearly missed his mark. He turned to give Wally an incredulous look, but the speedster was already gone halfway across the room helping Vixen.

Dick felt an immense surge of heat that had _not_ come from the blush starting to color his face. He looked to the side and saw Fire and Kaldur battling back to back, surrounded by a whirling, writhing globe of dancing green flames and unnaturally blue water. Fire unleashed a blistering green hell storm on the Manhunters surrounding them, melting them down to their metal skeletons.

Kaldur directed his hyper-accelerated water bearers around like whips, slashing Manhunters in half and slicing limbs off. The icy water mingled with the intense heat and produced great clouds of steam that lifted into the air with sharp hisses.

Behind Dick, Donna was earning her place on the team. She'd taken several hits – it was getting impossible to dodge all of the energy blasts – but was doing her damndest to give as good as she got. The young Amazon was trapped in the middle of five Manhunters. She blocked a downward swing of an energy baton with her bare forearm, only wincing slightly when it connected with a loud crack. She grabbed the arm of another Manhunter with her free hand and spun in a circle, flinging both Manhunters out wide and letting them go as they tumbled along the floor.

She leapt onto the shoulders of the third Manhunter and violently twisted its head all the way around until it ripped off. Donna thrust her arm right into the neck and down to fish around for the core. A fourth Manhunter fired at her and hit her square in the gut. She was thrown onto her back and rolled quickly to avoid the fifth android's fist slamming into the floor where she'd just been. It lifted its energy pistol at her and fired. Donna brought her wrists up in front of her face in a cross and deflected most of the blasts.

The rest burned across her legs and shoulders mercilessly.

Dick had his birdarangs out and ready to help her when he saw Wally zip right up to one of the Manhunters, slamming his whole arm into the android and dragging it away from their teammate.

Conner landed behind the fifth Manhunter and grabbed its arms in a lock. Donna staggered to her feet and lunged forward to grab its legs. They both pulled in either direction and quadruple amputated the Manhunter in a deafening screech of tearing metal.

M'gann and Zatanna were providing very much needed support. Miss Martian alternated between picking up Manhunters one by one and slamming then into the ground with her mind, and temporarily shielding each of her teammates from the blasts for as long as she was able before moving on. When she gathered her strength up enough, she would warn them all that she was about to clear the room and then lift the Manhunters up all at once, giving both teams time to catch their breath and pick off the androids while they were vulnerable.

 _"Nrut ot enots!"_ Zatanna cried suddenly, her voice stronger and more forceful now as it echoed around the observation deck.

The Manhunters all around her shuddered to a halt like their joints were freezing up. Their red and blue armor lost its sheen and began turning a rough, unpolished grey. Dick watched as the grey spread all the way over the androids and rendered them immobile. Zatanna just smirked exhaustedly, lowering her outstretched arms and straightening up to admire her handiwork. Five stony, transmuted Manhunter statues stood around her like a circular shield.

Dick turned his back on her as she readied another spell. She'd fallen into the flow of battle more quickly than any of them had expected, rising to the challenge.

Black Canary screamed hoarsely, and Manhunters splintered apart under the force of her slowly diminishing cry. Dick didn't know if there was a limit to how many times she could use her powers in one day, but she wasn't giving in to fatigue. Along with Wally, Conner, and Donna, Black Canary was dealing out the most damage to the Manhunters, and her experience _showed_.

Dick sprinted over to her, flinging birdarangs with expert precision at an android that had shot the blonde heroine in the back. The throwing stars electrocuted it, frying its systems and sending it to the ground smoking.

"Thanks," Black Canary rasped. Her voice was very nearly gone, and he wondered how long she'd be unable to speak after this. If they won…

 _"Get ready,"_ M'gann's voice rang out in all of their heads. _"They're going up again."_

Dick watched all of the androids shoot up into the air suddenly, and the energy blasts ceased for a brief few seconds.

Across the room, only just barely clearing Atom Smasher's ankle, Artemis lifted her bow at the airborne targets with relieved determination, "Finally. It's like a turkey shoot."

He saw Wally skid to a stop beside her and take a deep breath. Despite his speed, he'd clearly been tagged by energy blasts a few times during the fight. Several parts of his uniform were burnt, and small patches of dried blood stained his chest and back. Dick's heart squeezed painfully at the thought of him hurt, but Wally was actually one of the best off out of all of them. Everyone was looking rather ragged – costumes torn and hair singed. Dick had about five bleeding wounds right now; the worst was a gash on the side of his head that wouldn't stop oozing blood. Vixen and Kaldur's up close fighting styles had earned them both the most injuries, but no one had fallen yet.

Atom Smasher swatted Manhunters out of the air, smacking them to the ground at his feet where Wally and Artemis easily avoided them. From there, Conner and Wally would finish off the androids while Artemis fired arrow after arrow up at the floating Manhunters' defenseless cores.

Likewise, Dick and Black Canary took the opening and shot down as many as they could while there was a brief ceasefire and they didn't have to watch their backs. He worked until his arms felt like they were about to fall off, and then he noticed the Manhunters wobbling like M'gann was losing them.

"They're coming down!" he shouted so that she could keep all of her concentration on the androids.

Conner leapt into the air, grabbed a Manhunter in a quick last attack and slammed it into the floor at the same time that Atom Smasher did. A split second later, M'gann released her telekinetic hold on the Manhunters, and they came crashing down at once.

The floor shifted beneath Dick's feet at the heavy impact, and he had to correct his balance to keep from falling over. Then the floor tilted precariously and began to crumble on the other side right where Wally, Conner, Artemis, and Atom Smasher were standing. The largest hero's amplified weight buckled the steel and concrete, causing it to give way beneath them.

A deafening wail of steel seared Dick's ears, and he clamped his hands over them. He watched in heart-stopping horror as a giant hole opened in the floor and swallowed the four heroes and the Manhunters whole. Atom Smasher reached out and groped for a hand hold, only succeeding in making the chasm wider before he fell to the floor below.

Conner and Artemis fell amongst a cloud of concrete dust and energy blasts, obscuring them from view. But, Dick saw very clearly as Wally vanished, his bright red hair the last thing he saw. It was unmistakable even through the dust.

Then he was gone.

Dick lurched forward to run towards the gaping hole, _"KF!"_

Black Canary seized him around the middle and jerked him back a second before an energy blast would have taken his face off. Shaky and feeling like the whole world was ending, Dick fought against her to get free, _"NO! KF!"_

He reached up frantically to his earpiece and keyed the microphone, "KF! Answer me! Are you okay?! KF!"

"Robin!" Black Canary barked at him firmly, yanking his arm to spin him around. She turned her head and released a short scream at the Manhunter that had shot at them before grabbing Dick's chin to make him look at her. "Stay _focused_. You can't help anyone if you're dead. Help us clear this room, and then we'll go after them."

Dick stared back at her with wide, terrified eyes, his whole body going numb with fear. No one was answering on the communicator, and all he wanted to do was throw himself down to the next level and find out what happened to Wally. But, he had his training, and he quickly regained his senses, "Okay…"

"Good," Black Canary turned so that they were back to back. "Then, let's hurry."

Dick stared down the Manhunters furiously, all the while desperately praying that Wally was safe.

_Please, please be alive, Wally._

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[The Watchtower

March 26, 20:55 EST]

The scream caught in Artemis' throat as she plummeted. A giant slab of concrete bumped her shoulder, twisting her onto her back. She couldn't see anything through the hole above her or where any of her teammates were. Artemis groped for her quiver, but the leather straps holding it on had snapped when the concrete scraped against her. She gripped onto her bow convulsively and shut her eyes tight, waiting for the impact.

Right when she expected to hit the ground, something else jerked her to a halt instead. Artemis' head snapped back and, her feet bounced as two thick arms hooked underneath her knees and back.

She didn't move or open her eyes for several frantic heartbeats. She just clutched her bow to her chest and tried to control her trembling as she figured out if she was really alive or not.

"Artemis!"

Her eyes flew open at the rough, concerned voice, and Artemis found herself in the arms of Red Arrow. His usually angry face was staring down at her in uncharacteristic worry, chest heaving like he'd just sprinted in order to catch her.

He'd caught her.

She hadn't hit the ground.

Red Arrow tipped Artemis' legs down and helped steady her as she tried to stand with jelly muscles, "Are you okay?"

"Yes…?" she cleared her throat to mask her shaky voice. She was still confused as to why he cared. True, they'd kind of made up at the end of December when he told her that he no longer thought that there was a mole on their team, but they still weren't exactly friendly.

They were both protégés of Ollie though, and Artemis guessed that that counted for something.

The last piece of rubble cracked against the floor, and Artemis whipped around suddenly as she remembered her teammates. Conner was on his knees, hefting off a massive block that had fallen on him. He shook dust out of his hair and popped his shoulder but otherwise seemed fine. Atom Smasher and Wally were the farthest away. The giant hero had made a grab for Wally while they fell, but the redhead had still gotten his arm pinned between two slabs of debris.

Artemis made a break for him, running blindly at the downed heroes despite seeing that Manhunters were fighting on this level too. She was only ten steps away when Red Arrow grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

" _You_ cover us," he pressed his quiver into her hands and took the lead. "I'll free KF. You'll never be able to lift that stone off him."

Artemis didn't argue; the situation was too dire. She just strapped the quiver onto her back where it hung too loosely and pulled out a trick arrow. Red Arrow's had the same code of subtle grooves and studs that _her_ arrows did so they could tell which arrow did what just by feeling the end. She shot one of the Manhunters coming straight for them. It drove into the core exactly where she'd aimed for and detonated.

" _Another_ expert marksman?" A laughing male voice spoke from her left. "Where are all you guys coming from?"

She looked over and saw a blond hero with a red bandana covering his whole face from hairline to neck. He was standing in the middle of the largest cluster of Manhunters in the room, two guns in his hands and an entire _arsenal_ of machine guns, retrieved Manhunter weapons, and handguns floating all around him like a dome. They were all firing seemingly independently at all different targets and hitting their marks every time.

"Ya'll are gonna start to make me look bad," he chuckled with mock devastation.

"What on Earth…?" Artemis lowered her bow to her side and paused in the middle of reaching for another arrow.

"That's Grifter," Red Arrow called from where he was crouched beside Wally's unconscious body. He hooked his fingers under the top slab of rock and pulled on it with a grunt. "He's a telekinetic. I yelled at him to start using his powers, so now he's showing off."

Artemis watched Grifter in action, eyes widening in disbelief. He must've had twenty firearms that he was operating with his mind, and he _wasn't missing_. Not even once! He couldn't even see where he was shooting some of them.

Another Manhunter got too close, and Artemis blew its head off. She saw Conner jump over to Red Arrow and drag Wally out from beneath the lifted rock. She chanced a look and saw the yellow and red clad arm bent at an unnatural angle below the elbow. Red Arrow dropped the slab of concrete and moved over to kneel beside Wally, shaking his shoulders and even slapping him across the face urgently in an effort to wake him up.

As his hand was coming down the second time, Wally reached up and caught it. His face scrunched up in pain, and his eyes cracked open one at a time, " _Ow!_ Geez, you're like the worst nurse _ever_ …"

"Your arm is broken," Conner said nervously, his eyebrows pulled downwards in a deep frown.

Red Arrow ignored Wally's quip and helped him sit up, "What do you need?"

"Aw crap," Wally winced when he noticed the injury. He took a deep breath and held up the arm to Red Arrow. "Alright, hold onto my hand really tight. Supey, when I have my arm straightened, can you keep it steady? I need to set it before it heals wrong."

Artemis kept the Manhunters away from them along with Atom Smasher while Wally fixed his arm. She heard a sickening pop and a stifled gasp of pain and tried not to look. Artemis would have focused on the battle instead, except it was almost over. Grifter and the larger, black-haired woman named Big Barda had viciously and systematically demolished almost every Manhunter in sight.

She frowned suddenly and looked over her shoulder at Red Arrow. Conner was bracing Wally's wrist and elbow firmly with both hands. "Weren't there four people in your team? Where's the last one?"

"Question?" Red asked angrily, shrugging like this happened a lot. "I have no idea. He's just _gone_."

Five seconds later, Wally gave the go ahead for Conner to let go. He got to his feet and flexed his arm experimentally, only wincing a little. The bones had completely mended. Not for the first time, Artemis felt a little shiver go up her spine at how powerful some of the people in this world were, especially the ones she trusted enough to call friends.

"Are you okay to fight?" Conner was still staring at the arm worriedly.

Wally made a fist and grinned like he hadn't just set his own broken bone, "We'll find out, won't we?"

Red Arrow looked up at the hole in the ceiling and squinted. All they could see were flashes of light through the dust, "What happened up there?"

"A lot of Manhunters, energy blasts, a half-Kryptonian, and Atom Smasher hitting the ground all at once," Artemis supplied as soon as the last Manhunter lost its core – and all of its limbs – to Big Barda.

"We need to get back up there," Wally said worriedly. He rolled his shoulder and glanced over at Atom Smasher. "Think you can give us a lift?"

He nodded and flattened his hand for them all to stand on. Artemis was just handing Red Arrow back his quiver when they all heard the heavy stomping of metal feet coming around the corner of the adjacent hallways.

Grifter and Big Barda faced the doorway, the gunman mentally swiveling all of the weapons in the room to point at the exit, "That doesn't sound very good."

"KF!"

Artemis looked up suddenly and spied Robin's tiny head poking over the side of the gash above them. A margin of relief flooded her chest. She was worried that something worse had happened to her teammates on the floor above. He hurled something over the edge, and it plummeted down quickly way off course. He probably couldn't see through the dust either.

"Use this to get back up!"

Wally sped over and caught it, startled, and turned it over in his gloved hands. Artemis peered over his shoulder in curiosity. It was Robin's grapnel gun. Before he could shout anything back though, the Manhunters started filing into the room in formation with their weapons up and blazing.

"Dammit," Red Arrow cursed, shoving the quiver back at Artemis and selecting two energy pistols that Grifter had left on the ground.

Grifter immediately let loose on the scores of Manhunters coming in from the other parts of the Watchtower, "Looks like one of the teams lost their fight. Otherwise, these guys would be coming in from outside."

Artemis really hoped it wasn't Green Arrow's team. She tried to give back the quiver once more, but Red Arrow kept adamantly refusing it, "Why aren't you taking it?! You need it to fight!"

"Your quiver's too busted to use," he insisted gruffly, gesturing behind them at the pile of rubble. Artemis spotted her own green quiver crushed beneath a few hundred pounds of concrete and steel and bit her lip. Her arrows were snapped and scattered everywhere. "Just use mine. I can fight alright with these!"

Artemis slid the quiver back on silently and nocked another arrow. She tried not to think about why he was suddenly being so nice to her. Maybe Ollie had threatened him….hmm, no. Red Arrow was more likely to do the threatening. So, _why_?

She stood beside him, drawing back on an arrow and waiting for one of the Manhunters to get past Grifter's barrage of bullets and energy blasts. Red Arrow took aim as well and just glanced over at her, his stare all business, "You take the left side, and I'll get the right?"

That was it.

No scowling, or accusing her of treachery, or even any lingering hostility. He just asked her opinion like it was natural – like it was assumed that they would fight together. Artemis had never felt like she belonged in the Arrow family more than she did at that moment.

It was nice. She hadn't realized she wanted it – Red Arrow's acceptance.

"Sounds good to me," she nodded, turning her sharp eyes back to the doorway.

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[The Watchtower

March 26, 21:00 EST]

Barry had grabbed a large Manhunter leg and was using it to deflect the energy blasts hurtling at him and Bruce. He sped around, back and forth like a goalie, blocking shots and waiting for enough Manhunters to start converging on him. Then he'd rush forward and dismantle them in a whirlwind before picking out a new leg or chest plate to use as a shield. The energy blasts could really melt through the metal pretty quickly.

"What is he doing?" Katar landed on top of a Manhunter, digging his claws into its back and slicing a second Manhunter in half with his axe.

"Trying to upload a virus," Barry ran circles around an android that was trying to shoot him. Something hit the outside of the Watchtower and tossed Barry off kilter. He stumbled to the side and hit the ground, but the Manhunters were too heavy to be knocked over. The android merely set its sights on Bruce and fired.

Barry cursed under his breath and was on his feet in the blink of an eye, darting in front of Bruce and in the path of the energy blasts. He didn't have anything to block with, so they hit him in the chest and legs like one of Weather Wizard's hailstorms. Almost dropping to his knees, Barry rotated his arms out in front of him, blasting the android all the way across the room. His metabolism was already accelerating the healing and soothing the intense burning.

"You almost finished, Bats?" he panted, inspecting the skin he could see showing through the rips in his uniform.

"I didn't ask you to take hits for me," Bruce said over his shoulder, still elbow deep in the Manhunter's circuits.

"It was unavoidable," Barry lied with a half smile. He got back on the defensive and picked up a side plate of armor to use. Bruce didn't call him on it.

Oliver was shooting down Manhunters three at a time. He rolled to the side to avoid a Manhunter looking to take out his knees and answered with an arrow to the chest. The very edge of his mask was burned off on one side, and his eye and cheek bone were swollen and bleeding where he'd taken an energy blast right in the face, "How do you know this virus will even work?"

"It'll work," a subdued voice spoke from behind Barry. "I've spent six years writing it."

Barry blocked an energy blast and turned around in sudden confusion. The Question was crouched with Bruce on the other side of the Manhunter, stroking his featureless face pensively and entirely unconcerned with the battle raging around him.

"Where did you come from?!" Oliver did a double take, bending back to dodge a swipe from an energy baton.

"Two levels up," he answered easily as if there wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

"You know what I-"

"Wait," Barry cut off Oliver's sputtering. "What do you mean you've been working on it for six years? We only just found out about the Manhunters several _weeks_ ago."

"They've been here for decades, sticking their hands into everything," Question rambled in a creepy, paranoid tone. "Cell phones, the government, gourmet restaurants…"

Barry frowned at that last one, but he was very familiar with Question's conspiracy theories. He'd been in his Watchtower's quarters once, and the room had closely resembled the CCPD's briefing room when they were tracking down a serial killer – all charts, evidence, and loose connections tacked onto the walls, and pictures of suspects posted everywhere. The man was crazy but unreasonably good at his job. "So, you've been developing a Manhunter virus for the last half decade… just in case?"

" _Please_ ," he laughed as if Barry had insulted him. "I've made seven."

"They just need to be formatted to the Manhunters' systems, and then we can upload the viruses," Bruce was still working furiously, adding the data that Question had gathered from his own Manhunters.

"But that's gonna be soon, right?" Oliver asked through gritted teeth as another tremor rocked the Watchtower. Air pressure sirens began wailing again. "Because this hunk of space station is gonna fall down to Earth if this keeps going much longer."

Barry blocked more energy blasts, protecting Question's back now too. He was about to open his mouth to answer Oliver when the communicator in his ear fizzled to life, and he heard a cacophony of screams and explosions and his friend Ralph Dibny's shouting voice.

 _"We need help at the detention level!"_ Elongated Man rasped weakly. Barry felt his veins go cold. _"We're getting killed down here! Anyone who can help – please!"_

The detention level was the furthest away. No one could help them – no one but _him_. Bruce seemed to have the same idea, because he locked eyes with Barry beneath the cowl and gave a terse nod, " _Go_ , Flash. Hawkman, cover us in his place."

He touched his earpiece, "Atom, we're almost ready for you."

Across the room, one of the Manhunters deactivated, seemingly by itself, and a tiny red and blue clad hero hopped out of it, growing larger and larger until he was full size. He dodged his way over to Bruce and Question, hands on his hips, "You got it. What am I doing?"

"You'll be guiding this virus through the Manhunter's systems and making sure their defenses don't stop it before it gets to the processor," Bruce explained, pulling up a map for Atom to memorize. "And you'll need to get it into an active Manhunter."

Barry didn't wait any longer. He sped out of the room, completely bypassing the Manhunters that seemed to be standing still relative to him. He followed the Watchtower's circular hallways and ran down the stairwells as fast as the station's stability would allow. As he went, he encountered countless Manhunters wandering around the tower unchecked and destroying anything they came across. He vibrated his hands through any androids he passed close enough to as he went by. This was bad. The League only had eight teams working to defend their base, and they were all getting overwhelmed. Mister Terrific was doing a good job of keeping all the breaches sealed, but Barry knew that couldn't last forever.

This needed to end soon.

He zipped down to the bottommost level of the tower where the holding cells were located and immediately saw Black Lightning's unconscious body lying out in the hallway by itself. Barry crouched beside him and checked for a pulse. It was weak but there. He took in the extensive burns and the giant gaping head wound he'd sustained to the temple.

The sound of stomping Manhunter footsteps getting farther away drew his attention to the corner at the end of the corridor. There he saw one of Ralph's stretched out arms sprawled onto the floor. He felt his heartbeat quicken in fear and made to dash over to him when he heard an agonized scream from the section of holding cells to his right.

Barry froze mid stride and looked down the empty hallway as his blood turned to ice.

That had sounded like Wally…

_"Uncle BARRY-AHHHGGHH! Please! Hel-AahHHH!"_

It _was_ Wally. He was in pain, screaming for Barry to help.

Heartbeat positively humming with panic, Barry sped down the row of cells without a second thought. He checked every single one until coming to the cell at the very end and grabbing the side of the doorway to help swing his momentum inside.

Lasers instantly shot across the doorway like a glowing red web of light, and Barry didn't even have a fraction of a second to dodge. He threw himself back on instinct, but his right leg got thrown out in the process and right into one of the beams.

It burned right through his skin and muscle like a hot knife through butter and seared the fibula and tibia in half.

Barry jerked his leg out of the beam and collapsed onto his back with a startled cry. He reached down and gripped his shin where the lower part of his leg was just hanging there by a thin piece of skin the width of his finger.

Two sharp darts suddenly dug into his shoulder. Barry jerked in response and ripped them both out quickly, bringing them to his face. His fingers trembled, but he could easily see the shiny, red and blue injection darts in his hand. They slipped through the gaps in his fingers and clattered to the floor as Barry convulsed weakly. He tried to sit up, tried to use his speed, but his body was responding all wrong. His powers weren't working…

"That was almost too easy."

Barry looked up as the field of red lasers flickered away, and his eyes focused on a lone Manhunter acolyte standing in front of the glass partition in the room. He reached up and pulled off his helmet, revealing the sneering, hate-filled face of Rudy West.

Barry saw red.

He tried to lunge forward, but his leg dragged behind him uselessly, so he lifted one of his arms instead and tried to rotate it to create a lethal funnel of air. But, his arm just moved at regular speed. Barry eyed the limb in confusion, his vision going a little blurry.

Several feet away, Rudy raised the small gun in his hand and waved it around tauntingly, "I shot you with a tranquilizer. You're not going to be using your powers any time soon."

Barry took a deep breath and blinked rapidly, fighting the heaviness that was steadily settling on him. He looked around the room frantically before looking back at Rudy and snarling, "Where is Wally?!"

Rudy shrugged, "I don't know – somewhere in this space station fighting Manhunters I would guess."

"Don't lie to me!" Barry growled, placing both hands on the floor and trying to push himself upright. "I heard him!"

"You mean _this_?" Rudy held up a small device in his other hand and clicked a button.

Immediately, Wally's screams and cries for his aunt and uncle filled the small cell. Barry stared at Rudy in dawning horror as he recognized the device as a voice recorder.

"He's not here. Professor Zoom was kind enough to record himself torturing my son," Rudy clicked the off button again and Wally's screaming ceased. "I figured since you weren't there, you might want to hear it. Turned out to be the perfect bait for you."

Barry swallowed down his burning rage and quickly tried to position his severed leg to connect it to the rest of his shin, but he could already tell that his healing factor wasn't working.

"That wound is cauterized," Rudy told him in an angry voice. He dropped the tranquilizer gun and selected an energy pistol in its place, leveling it right at Barry's eyes. "You're going to need surgery to fix it, and I'm thinking that's not going to happen."

Barry released his leg and glared up at Rudy, finding that his overwhelming hate for the man was unmistakably returned.

"You're not going to make it out of this room," Rudy continued, charging up the weapon and placing his finger over the trigger. "There's no Justice League this time, and no super powers. It's just me and you."


	29. Chapter 29

[The Watchtower

March 26, 21:10 EST]

Rudy fired the pistol and Barry dropped onto his back, pressing as flat as possible against the floor. The blast grazed over the logo on his chest and splashed into the wall behind him. Barry lifted his forearm and blocked another one meant for his face, "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

His brother-in-law just growled at him and kept firing. Barry hunched over to protect his head and neck, taking a deep breath. This was going to hurt…

He coiled the muscles in his left leg and launched himself into a sideways roll, coming to a rocky stop beside the cabinets in one corner. Barry had tried to keep hold of his mostly severed leg, but even just barely jostling it was painful enough to make the room swim before his eyes.

He slumped against the cabinets and swallowed his nausea down. The tranquillizer was flooding through his system too fast. It hadn't nullified his powers, but it was going to knock him out in a matter of seconds. Barry mustered his strength and slammed his fist into the cabinets, breaking off two small doors with a great, splintering crash. He blocked the energy blasts with one door and hurled the other at Rudy. It hit him in the arm and knocked the energy pistol up into his face.

Barry slowly slid forward as he started to black out, willing his metabolism to speed up. The tranquilizer might take him down faster, but he'd burn it off just as quickly. He just hoped that the energy blast to the face would keep Rudy down just as long.

0000

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[The Watchtower

March 26, 21:20 EST]

Wally tried to listen to the communicator and fight at the same time. His uncle had responded to a call for help by himself, and Wally was waiting to hear any kind of status report through the earpiece. He'd immediately gotten a bad feeling – the same thing he'd felt when Roy had told him that Professor Zoom was out and running around.

He worked back to back with Conner and Big Barda, who were the only ones durable enough to withstand the explosions he was setting off. Barda was shooting devastating blasts from her Mega-rod and violently kicking aside any Manhunters that tried to sneak up on her.

Conner leapt onto a Manhunter, tackling it to the ground and driving his fist into its core. Energy blasts lanced across his back and burned holes into his black t-shirt, which was little more than tatters at this point. His jeans were only faring slightly better. Man, they really needed to get him a real suit. Wally and the Team had been working on designing one for him and they were trying to finish it by his 'birthday'. Currently, the latest version was a red, blue, and yellow jumpsuit with a leather jacket and the 'S' shield on the chest. None of them really knew how Superman would like it, but they also kind of didn't care. Everyone was still a touch bitter about him.

Wally ran at the Manhunters shooting him and vibrated his arm through them before knocking them as far away from the others as he could get.

A few minutes ago, they'd all heard a massive explosion from the level above and seen fire and debris fall through the hole. After that, they couldn't get either team to give any indication that they were okay. The sounds of fighting let them know that _someone_ was still up and giving hell, but they had no way to know who or how many. The communicators to the levels above were little more than static, and M'gann wasn't answering their requests for a telepathic link.

Grifter was too busy aiming and operating his twenty guns to spare the mental focus it would take to check on them himself. Wally, Conner, and Artemis were forced to put their worry aside as best they could. They fought as a unit, merging both teams surprisingly well.

Grifter kept up a constant barrage on the doorway, controlling the Manhunter traffic entering the room. Roy and Artemis were furiously picking off the few that got past him while Conner, Wally, and Barda took out the rest before they could get to the archers and Grifter.

Wally grabbed a Manhunter and spun it in a circle, stealing its weapon before it could reorient itself and firing the baton. The Manhunter staggered back from the blows until an arrow to the back of the knee from Artemis brought it down. Wally was on it in a second, planting his feet on the Manhunter's stomach and jamming the baton right into the core. He kept his finger pressed down on the trigger until the baton was firmly stuck in molten metal and the Manhunter's eyes had gone dark.

Wally leapt off the heap of scrap metal and left the baton behind. Another thunderous boom shook the Watchtower, and Wally couldn't help glancing up nervously. He hadn't seen Dick since he threw down the grapnel gun that Wally had strapped to his leg, and he had no idea if he was okay or not.

He had to be, though, didn't he? He was _Robin_. Wally knew that the Manhunters weren't fighting with kid gloves on, but he couldn't even _begin_ to imagine Dick dying. It just didn't really seem possible. He had to be okay, or else…the world didn't make sense.

After all they'd survived so far, surely they'd make it out of this too.

It didn't make him feel better.

Wally's earpiece shrieked again, and he shivered. This time, it wasn't Elongated Man's voice. Firestorm was yelling into the communicator over the noise on his end.

_"We could really use some help at the detention level! The maximum security wing is completely overrun, and two members of our team are down!"_

Wally's insides started to writhe uneasily again.

Green Arrow's voice answered, _"Flash ran down there a few minutes ago to give you backup."_

 _"He's not here,"_ Firestorm said in a strained voice. The sound of constant energy blasts threatened to drown out his words. _"-never showed up!"_

Wally froze in place, and an energy blast tagged him in the ribcage.

Oh God…

The chatter on the communicator alternated between Oliver and Batman trying to get Uncle Barry to respond. He never did. Wally felt like he wanted to throw up. His whole body started vibrating anxiously, and he was in danger of phasing through the floor again. Something really bad had happened to his uncle. He knew it.

"Flash!" he keyed the microphone on his communicator.

Nothing.

Wally saw Conner pause in between smashing Manhunters to look back at him with wide, sympathetic eyes. Wally just stared back, his whole body trembling as he waited for Uncle Barry to answer on the radio. He was the closest thing to a real father figure that Wally had ever had. If anything happened to Uncle Barry, Wally didn't know what he'd do. What would he tell Aunt Iris?

"Supey, I gotta go," Wally whispered, knowing that Conner's keen ears would pick up his words clearly.

Sure enough, Conner gave him a small nod. He looked reluctant to let Wally go alone but didn't argue, "You need me to clear you a path?"

Roy and Artemis heard him that time. Roy's eyes tore from the Manhunters and fixed on Conner, "What?"

Wally purposely avoided his older friend's gaze. Roy would try to stop him, and he really needed to go find his uncle. No one else in the Watchtower could spare themselves to help, and Wally knew that his uncle was in trouble. He wasn't sure if it was something to do with their powers or not, but he was positive that he wasn't wrong.

Wally increased the frequency of his nervous vibrations and shook his head, "No thanks. I can manage."

"What are you planning?" Roy sounded angry now and worried. Wally didn't answer him. " _Kid!_ "

He was ready in seconds, pressing his fingers to his earpiece, "I'm going after Flash, and then we'll help Firestorm's team."

"No you aren't!" Roy shouted immediately, still laying down heavy fire on the endless stream of Manhunters.

 _"Kid Flash, do not go to the detention level,"_ Batman's voice ordered darkly over the communicator. He sounded gravelly, and the tone implied in no uncertain terms that Wally was to obey without question. _"Stay where you are."_

That made Wally swallow apprehensively. The thought of directly ignoring an order from _Batman_ made him feel ill, but he'd do it for his uncle.

"Can't. Sorry," he answered shortly and took off full speed right at the doorway full of Manhunters clamoring to get in.

 _"Kid!_ " Roy yelled after him frantically, but Wally didn't stop.

He charged into the Manhunters, phasing through multiple androids, arrows, and bullets without faltering even a single step. The stairwell to the detention level was to the right, but Wally went left first where all the Manhunters were filing in from. He burned down the hallway, vibrating through as many Manhunters as he could before doubling back to the right.

" _KF!"_ Roy called from behind him. The Manhunters in the hallway exploded all at once, drowning out his voice.

But, Wally didn't stop. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, playing it safe and dodging around Manhunters instead of attacking them. He figured that if he was disobeying orders, he could at least do this and avoid combat where no one needed his help. It was staggering, however, to see how much of the Watchtower they'd lost to the Manhunters; they were _everywhere_.

Wally ignored his communicator and ran. He made it to the detention level in seconds and nearly tripped over Black Lightning as he rounded the corner. He skirted around the unconscious hero's body and bent down to turn him over and check if he was breathing. That's when he saw Elongated Man down at the end of the hall and heard energy blasts and loud cursing from a branching corridor to his right.

Wally recognized the voice.

Heart pounding frantically, Wally dashed towards the noises. He cleared all the cells and turned a sharp corner into the last open cell where the lights and sounds were coming from. His brain processed everything he was seeing lightning fast.

Uncle Barry was lying on his side with one leg twisted grotesquely backwards below the knee. At first glance, Wally thought it was just broken, but it was almost completely cut off. He wasn't moving or crying out as Wally's dad unloaded an energy baton at him. His dad was dressed in Manhunter armor again with his helmet thrown aside. His face was screwed up in rage, eyes bulging out and skin turning purple.

Wally slammed into him as hard as he could, shoving his father into the glass divider, "Get away from him!"

His dad's head cracked against the glass, and he looked dazed for a moment. Wally knocked the baton from his hand and zipped back to Uncle Barry. He fumbled to press his fingers to the side of his uncle's neck, searching for a pulse. It was there, but it was way too slow for a speedster. Wally kept waiting and felt the heartbeat start to speed up. He let out a shaky half sob of relief and turned around to face his dad.

Wally expected him to say something hateful – something cruel and spoken specifically to hurt. Instead, his dad just lifted an energy pistol from his belt and pointed it right between Wally's eyes, his expression grim and unfeeling.

Wally suddenly remembered hot bullets tearing through his body, and he froze in place. His dad had the same look in his eyes as he did that day. He was going to shoot him just like last time, but Wally wasn't the same person anymore. He wasn't a victim.

He ducked beneath the energy blast at the same time that a jet of hurricane force air shot by next to him and slammed his dad into the glass again. He hit it so hard that big cracks started webbing out from the impact.

When Wally turned around in surprise, he found Uncle Barry awake and propping himself up with one arm. His other arm was outstretched at Wally's dad and rotating at superspeed. Uncle Barry's blue eyes were sparking dangerously with power and narrowed at Wally's dad in a livid glare. He vibrated his hand at an odd frequency until something resembling a ball of lightning formed around his fingers. Uncle Barry's arm flickered, and he hurled the lightning at Wally's father.

The lightning hit him dead in the chest, and he jerked in convulsions as the current ran through his armor and into his body. Wally watched in shock as his father collapsed in howling agony, limbs twitching from the aftershocks.

He snatched the pistol away from him before his dad regained his senses and turned it on him. Wally's fingers tightened around the unfamiliar grip, and his hands shook as he stood firmly between his father and uncle, "Stay down."

His dad cracked his eyes open in stunned anger and lunged unsteadily forwards.

Wally shot him in the foot.

It didn't play out like Wally thought it would. He'd imagined that his dad would drop to his knees, crying and begging for his life. He'd apologize for everything he'd done and ask Wally to forgive him. Wally expected to feel powerful – in _control_ for once.

Instead, his dad gasped in pain and jerked back against the glass. Then the entire back wall of the cell caved in with a thunderous crash, and a Green Lantern was thrown inside with his light extinguished. The vacuum of space immediately sucked the dead alien back out into darkness along with the entire loose contents of the cell.

Wally's dad looked behind him at the open maw on the other side of the heavily damaged partition, and all the color drained from his face.

"Wally, _run!_ " Uncle Barry shouted desperately, even though _he_ could barely crawl with his leg.

The cracking in the glass spread quickly under the pressure, and the whole thing seemed to shift backwards. His dad lunged for his discarded helmet, but he didn't make it in time. The partition was pulled out in great chunks, and Wally watched in slow motion as his dad was gradually pulled inch by inch out through the hole.

Wally _had time_ to save him.

He could've sprinted forwards and grabbed his dad before firing the grapnel gun Dick had thrown down to him. He could have saved his dad's life, but…he didn't.

He zipped over to Uncle Barry's side instead. Wally hooked his arm around his uncle's chest and fired the grappling hook into the floor where it dug in firmly and held fast. Uncle Barry clutched onto him in startled surprise as they were all dragged towards the breach. Wally twisted around in fear and locked eyes with his father for the last time.

He was trying to claw his way along the floor with both arms outstretched and his expression showing dismay and mortal terror. Wally watched him gasp for air and saw his eyes bulging from the pressure.

The grappling hook's de-cel line snapped taut and jerked Wally and Uncle Barry to a halt in midair. Wally's shoulder threatened to pop, and he held onto the fabric of his uncle's uniform with a death grip. When he felt secure enough that the line wouldn't break, he looked back again.

This time, his dad was gone. The edges of the breach rapidly grew back until the hole was the size of a dinner plate. The pull lessened, and Wally and his uncle hit the floor as artificial gravity returned. Seconds after that, the nanomites had sealed the breath.

Wally released his white-knuckled hold on Uncle Barry and flopped onto his back, fingers still wrapped around the grapnel gun.

He stared wide-eyed up at the flickering lights above them and tried to breathe in the thin air. His father was dead… Wally had let him die. He hadn't helped his own _dad_.

Uncle Barry was clutching his mostly severed leg with tightly gritted teeth. He sat up with a stifled groan of pain, and Wally's eyes flitted over to him for an instant.

"Wally…" Uncle Barry took his shoulder and coaxed him to look up. He should've been crying out in pain and tending to his leg, but the concern in his eyes was directed wholly at Wally.

Wally hadn't realized how badly he was vibrating until his uncle had to force him to stop. He just gave Uncle Barry a helpless, scared look – reflecting exactly what he was feeling on the inside, "I didn't want to save him…I-I didn't want…to-"

"No," Uncle Barry shook his head firmly. He wrapped an arm around Wally's shoulder with some difficulty and tried to move him closer, but Wally was like a statue. "Don't do this to yourself again. This wasn't your fault. You didn't have any reason _to_ save him."

"He was a human being!" Wally insisted, as if that was reason enough.

"Barely…" Uncle Barry scoffed bitterly, but his expression softened immediately after when he realized that his grudges weren't going to be of any help here. "I'm sorry, kid."

"I never wanted him dead," Wally mentally fumbled to explain. "But I…didn't want to save him. I _couldn't_ make my body move."

"Oh, Kid," Uncle Barry eyed him mournfully. "Please don't let yourself overcomplicate this. We are already going to need _so_ much therapy as it is."

Wally's mouth twitched upwards in an almost smile, but he sobered quickly at the memory of his father's dying expression. It would be with him forever. He'd never forget.

"It was an accident," Uncle Barry said soothingly, trying to keep him from going into shock. "And he didn't really leave you very much incentive to help him. Listen closely, though. You're not any less of a hero because you didn't save him. If you need someone to blame, then blame _me_. I was ready to kill him."

Wally just sat there in a daze, unable to look at anything but his uncle's destroyed leg. His father had done that. To Wally's _hero_. Now the leg just lay at a horrific angle, twisted uselessly. For a terrifying moment, Wally wondered if it could even be repaired or not. Would Uncle Barry lose his leg because of how much Wally's dad loathed him?

"I didn't want to save him," Wally repeated with more conviction this time and less dismay. "But I wanted to save _you_."

Uncle Barry opened his mouth to respond but shut it instantly. It seemed like the full gravity of what Wally said hit him all at once. Wally had chosen to save _him_ over his own father.

"Thank you," Uncle Barry told him very seriously, making sure to look him right in the eyes. "You know that your aunt and I aren't going to let you go through this alone, don't you?"

Wally nodded, but he was still wrapped up in the fact that both his mom and dad were dead. He really was orphaned now.

"Come on," Uncle Barry said reluctantly. "Put it all aside for now. This still isn't over."

"You can't fight like that!" Wally got to his feet and looked down at his uncle incredulously.

"I've fought in worse condition before," Uncle Barry countered with a fierce look in his eyes. "I do need something to keep the leg in place though."

Wally immediately started rummaging through what was left of the cabinets and their contents before giving up and tearing off a full sleeve of his costume. He knelt down in front of Uncle Barry and hesitated, trying to decide what to do. Should he just…turn the leg the right way and…match it up with the other half? Wally wasn't entirely sure that Uncle Barry could stand to stay conscious through that. But, what other choice did they have? There was no anesthetic and no time to find any.

"Go ahead," Uncle Barry took a deep breath and grabbed a large chunk of a torn cabinet to clamp between his teeth. "I trust you."

Wally's fingers tightened on the fabric of his own sleeve, and he felt his stomach turn nervously. He avoided Uncle Barry's eyes and tried not to think about the unimaginable pain that was about to fill them.

He reached for his uncle's leg.


	30. Chapter 30

[The Watchtower

March 26, 21:30 EST]

They were losing.

Badly.

Mere minutes after Wally and the others disappeared when the floor collapsed, one of the Manhunters self-destructed without warning. The explosion had taken everyone by surprise and downed over half of them in one blow.

Vixen and Black Canary had been right beside the Manhunter when it self-destructed. Black Canary had wearily darted in front of Vixen and released a weak scream at the flames that pushed them back. It worked for a moment, but the fire and shrapnel hurled both of them back several feet, and they didn't get back up again.

The extreme heat from the fire overwhelmed Kaldur and M'gann just as quickly. Kaldur reacted as best he could, commanding all of the water in the room towards the blast and preventing it from consuming the entire room and the rest of his teammates. But they'd still been too close, and the scorching fire had them beaten in less than sixty seconds. They were both unconscious on the floor now with Zatanna frantically conjuring water and ice to bathe them in. The raven-haired sorceress was already halfway through creating a rough igloo of sorts to encapsulate M'gann.

Fire was the only one who seemed to be thriving amongst the smoke and flames, only making it hotter as she melted any Manhunter she could get her hands on in an effort to protect her teammates. Dick had tried to signal to her to stop – that she was making things worse for Kaldur and M'gann – but what else was she supposed to do? Fire was the only one even able to _move_ right now, and she was working solo to fight a room full of Manhunters.

Dick crouched beneath one of Zatanna's shields with Donna, clamping rebreathers between their teeth so that the smoke didn't kill them. They had only survived because they'd been on the fringe of the field, and Dick had used his flame resistant cape to cover them both. Dodging both the flames _and_ energy blasts had become impossible, so the only thing left to do was wait and pray that Fire could handle it by herself.

He wiped at the sweat pouring off of his forehead, dripping from his bangs like rain. Being helpless wasn't something he was used to, and he hated it.

 _"Dloc dniw wolb!"_ Zatanna shouted at M'gann while keeping one hand outstretched towards Kaldur. _"Ekam ti niar!"_

The mini ice fortress around M'gann grew thicker and crept over her limbs with the sound of a hundred icicles cracking. Dick ducked behind the cocoon and peered in through the gap at the floor. M'gann was still unconscious with her face screwed up in the memory of pain. He looked back at the steady drizzle of rain falling onto Kaldur and saw Donna cupping her hands into a bowl to collect some of the water. Her soot-streaked face was drawn tight in concern as she brought her hands to the gills on either side of Kaldur's neck and gently washed the water through them.

"I can't keep this up!" Zatanna cried hoarsely, casting another spell to keep up the invisible shield around them all. "Fire has to stop this soon, or Aqualad and Miss Martian are going to die faster than I can keep them cool and hydrated."

Dick ground his teeth together in frustration and scanned the room again, trying to come up with a solution as quickly as possible.

"We also need to get to Vixen and Black Canary," Donna spoke in her thick, Greek accent, pouring another handful of water onto Kaldur's neck. "They will burn if the Manhunters don't get to them first."

Dick could barely see the pair of downed heroines across the room. They were less than five yards from the gaping hole in the floor that Wally and the others had fallen through. He didn't know if things were any better down there or not, but he knew that Black Canary and Vixen would die if they stayed up here undefended. He took mental stock of everything in his utility belt and then turned to face Zatanna with a determined look, "Zee, how many spells can you keep active at the same time?"

"I used to think it was only one, but…" she gestured to Kaldur, M'gann, and the shield she was keeping solid as way of an answer.

"I know you're stretched thin, but do you think you can handle one more?" he asked quickly, giving a meaningful gesture over to where Fire was keeping the Manhunters away from Vixen and Black Canary.

Zatanna gave him a skeptical look but took one glance at Black Canary sprawled out on the ground with her blonde hair singed and tangled over her face. Dick knew that she was remembering all the time that the tough heroine had given to overseeing their training and how she'd cared about them when she had no reason to.

Zatanna nodded and returned her focus to keeping Kaldur hydrated, "I can handle it. What do you need?"

"I need to get over to them without catching on fire," Dick told her, making a face as he realized how vague his request sounded. Zatanna frowned in thought, no doubt running through her repertoire of spells for a useful one.

"I want to help," Donna's eyes darted between them urgently, and she clenched her fists like she was all ready for combat. She probably _was_.

Dick thought for a brief moment and started unhooking the spare grapnel gun from his belt. He pointed to the lasso at Donna's waist, "Okay. You get Vixen, and I'll go for Black Canary."

Donna agreed and Zatanna seemed to find a spell that would work, "I have one, but I've never tried it before. It may fail."

"We don't have time for doubts," Dick shrugged sympathetically. "We need to give it a try."

"Alright," Zatanna said at length, sucking in a deep, shaky breath and extending both arms towards Dick and Donna.

_"Foorperif Nibor dna Rednow Lrig!"_

Dick felt a strange chilly sensation cover his entire body and saw Donna shiver similarly. He gave her a nod to show that he felt the spell taking effect and stood up from the shelter of M'gann's ice cave, "Let's go, Wonder Girl."

They both leapt out of Zatanna's force field and made a break for the unconscious heroines that Fire was fighting to defend. Donna took the lead, blocking energy blasts as they ran and punching one Manhunter so hard that her fist went right through it. She flung it aside and shoved aside two more to clear the path. Dick felt an energy blast hit him between the shoulder blades, and he rolled with the momentum, getting back to his feet in a dead run.

"Secure the lasso to something and tie the other end around Vixen!" Dick yelled as they got closer. His skin blistered from the heat and every lungful of air felt like he was breathing in pure steam. "Make sure the rope has plenty of feed to it!"

Donna nodded without looking back at him. She freed her lasso from her belt in a quick motion and looped one end around a thick pillar. Dick slid the rest of the way to Black Canary's side, ducking beneath Manhunter fire and firing the grappling hook into the ground. He locked the length at twenty feet and severed the de-cel line from the gun handle, tying it around Black Canary's torso in an expert knot and turning to Donna once he was finished, "Throw them both over the edge!"

She was just finishing tying up Vixen when his words registered, and she looked up in surprise, "What?"

"Now!" Dick spun around to throw two birdarangs at a group of Manhunters advancing on them.

Donna carefully pushed Vixen over the edge of the hole with her foot and dragged Black Canary by her jacket. Both heroines tumbled out of sight, and the de-cel line and lasso snapped taut as they reached the end of the lines.

They were safe.

Dick exchanged a relieved half smile with Donna when an energy blast collided with the side of his head.

Pain spiraled into his skull, and he was thrown onto his back. His head slammed against the floor with a series of cracks. Dick's vision went gray, and suddenly the world sounded like it was underwater. He tried to move, but his whole body was numb, and he couldn't tell if his hands were actually touching the floor to push himself upright or still lying limp at his sides.

He felt himself being pulled up effortlessly by the front of his uniform, but he couldn't see who it was.

Please be Donna, please be Donna, _please_.

Tiny pinpoints returned at the center of his vision, and the grey receded enough for him to see shiny red and blue metal and glowing green eyes.

Crap.

The Manhunter held him out at arm's length and pointed its energy pistol right at his face. The weapon whined as it charged up, and Dick furiously kicked at the Manhunter's chest plate to get free. The Manhunter's fingers didn't give an inch, and the pistol was pressed against his forehead.

Dick shut his eyes and felt his heartbeat stutter as he scrambled to prepare himself to die.

_I'm sorry, Bruce. Alfred._

_Mom…Dad…_

_Wally, I love you. Please be safe._

He took in a deep breath and held it, waiting for the trigger to be pulled.

It never happened.

Dick summoned the courage to crack one eye open and was met with dim green lights that were powering down. He blinked rapidly, unaware that his vision was blurry because stunned tears were filling his eyes. The Manhunter had been deactivated.

He looked around in disbelief at the motionless androids all over the room, frozen and powered down all at the same time. Fire paused in confusion and stopped torching the Manhunters to see what was happening.

_"Batman to all teams."_

Dick jumped in shock when his mentor's voice came through his earpiece.

_"We've successfully infected the Manhunters' hive mind with a virus. It will have them offline for an estimated five minutes. I can't guarantee that timeframe, so use it wisely. Destroy as many Manhunters as you can and treat your wounds later."_

Dick stared at the Manhunters in wide-eyed surprise. Bruce had done it… They'd really done it.

_"I repeat: you have five minutes. Destroy as many Manhunters as you can!"_

He didn't wait another second. Dick pried off the fingers holding him and dropped to the ground in an unsteady crouch, glaring up at the Manhunter as he grabbed for a birdarang.

It was a massacre. Dick, Zatanna, Donna, and Fire had the room cleared in less than two minutes. They heard a similar scenario playing out on the level below them as well. Dick looked over at Donna, chest heaving for air and grinned exhaustedly.

The huge windows on the observation deck suddenly lit up with blinding green as every single Green Lantern fighting out in space rallied as one to eradicate the deactivated Manhunters before they came back online.

By the time that five minutes were up, the Green Lanterns had fought so furiously that only a couple hundred Manhunters were left. Dick was still on high alert and in battle mode even as he watched the Manhunters reactivate and take stock of their losses before flying away from the Watchtower.

"Are they…running away?" Zatanna asked from where she was still caring for Kaldur and M'gann.

"I don't know," Dick frowned. A third of the Lanterns gave chase, following the Manhunters like comets. "It sort of looks like it."

 _"Batman, the virus worked!"_ Superman's voice came over the communicator. _"The Manhunters are being pushed back out here. What's the situation inside the Watchtower?"_

Dick expected to hear Bruce's voice next, but it was Mister Terrific who spoke, _"All Manhunters inside the satellite have been neutralized. Oxygen levels are at seventy-eight percent, and all breaches are currently sealed."_

 _"Our next move is to secure the medical bay and tend to our wounded. We don't know if the Manhunters will return with reinforcements, so move quickly,"_ Bruce ordered calmly and Dick could hear the slightest hint of heavily concealed pain in his voice.

 _"The improved long-range sensors are only registering the Manhunters' retreat. They can give us up to twenty minutes notice,"_ Mister Terrific said in response.

 _"Aquaman here,"_ A much deeper voice filled Dick's earpiece. _"The medical bay is secure and both Doctors Light and Mid-Nite are here and preparing for the injured. Red Tornado is on his way to the reactor core to relieve you, Terrific. We're going to need you up here."_

_"Understood."_

Dick tuned out the chatter on the communicator and put the windows at his back. The observation deck was a mess; the floor was barely visible through the Manhunter husks, and the air was dark and hazy with smoke from the burning pile of molten metal surrounding Fire.

He started running for the hole in the floor, heart pounding madly, "Wonder Girl, help Zatanna bring Miss Martian and Aqualad to the medical bay. Don't stop for anything. Fire, _power down!_ They both have extreme weaknesses to heat and flame!"

Instantly, the burning, green heroine extinguished the fire dancing along her body, and she returned to a normal human form, looking distraught at the condition of the young heroes around her.

"I'm going to find out what happened to the rest of our team!" he shouted over his shoulder before noticing that both Donna's lasso and the line from his grapnel gun were loose.

_"Tropelet su ot eht lacidem yab!"_

Dick slid to his knees, grabbed the loose de-cel line, and jumped over the edge of the hole, swinging down into the level below without difficulty. He let his hands slide a little down the line before stopping himself a good ten feet from the ground. Black Canary was no longer tied to the line and hanging from the ceiling. She'd been cut down and was in Grifter's arms while Big Barda carefully laid Vixen out on the floor.

"Robin!"

Dick looked up and saw Artemis running towards him waving her bow with a concerned look. She had a small gash on the side of her head that was bleeding steadily and slicking her blonde hair red with blood, but it didn't appear to be too bad. Dick dropped to the ground and almost fell over as a wave of vertigo washed over him. Artemis grabbed his shoulders and helped steady him, "Are you okay?"

"Took a nasty hit to the head," he brought his gloved hand up to his temple and it came away dark red. "Kinda like you did."

"How are the others?" Conner was suddenly right there as well, and Dick could see Atom Smasher shrinking himself down to a normal size across the room. "We couldn't get back up, and then we heard an explosion."

"A Manhunter detonated," Dick explained briefly and then gestured to Black Canary and Vixen who were still unconscious. "Took _them_ out first and then Aqualad and Miss Martian."

"Are they alive?!" Conner asked in alarm, and the blood rushed out of Artemis' face.

Dick nodded, "Zee and Wonder Girl took them to the medical bay. And that's where Black Canary and Vixen really need to go too."

"Don't worry, Shortstop," Grifter and Big Barda were already making for the room's exit. "We'll take Blondie and Supermodel there ourselves."

Dick watched them leave and scanned the rest of the room nervously. He couldn't see Wally anywhere. Or Roy. Why weren't they here? A terrible sinking feeling in his gut made him look over at the heaping pile of rubble from where the ceiling had collapsed. Was Wally buried beneath it? He hadn't been able to see a _thing_ when he tossed down his grapnel gun before.

"Where's KF…?" he barely whispered. Both Conner and Artemis exchanged worried looks.

A thick arm suddenly wrapped around him from behind, and Dick almost jumped out of his skin before he recognized the black, fingerless glove, "He took off all of a sudden right after he heard over the communicator that Flash might be in trouble."

The voice was angry – furious and relieved at the same time. Dick turned around and found Roy, bruised and bloodied but otherwise fine, standing right behind him. He was quickly overcome with relief of his own and couldn't stop himself from returning the older boy's quick hug. Then his words registered.

"What do you mean he ran off?!" Dick's legs went weak, and his chest felt hollow.

"Didn't you hear over the communicator?" Roy's eyebrows turned downwards.

"We could barely hear _ourselves_ over the explosions," Dick shook his head.

"The team covering the detention level got taken out, and Flash was dispatched to help, but he never made it there," Roy explained grimly. "KF went to find him, and I can't get either of them to answer their damn communicators!"

"I'll meet you at the med bay," Dick bolted for the door without waiting another second, sprinting on numb legs that shouldn't have been able to carry him this fast. His teammates called out for him to stop, but Dick couldn't stand not knowing what happened to Wally. He had to see him.

He ran down the hall towards the detention level, jumping over deactivated Manhunter shells and picking his way through wreckage that only a speedster could have caused. At least he knew he was on the right track. Dick followed Wally's trail all the way to the very bottom level of the Watchtower, picturing every single terrible thing that might have happened to him along the way.

Why the hell did he have to be so bullheaded?! Who runs off by themselves in the middle of a Manhunter invasion?

Dick tried to calm down as he ran and felt himself sighing in defeat. _Wally._ Wally was exactly the type of person to do that – especially if he was going after someone important to him.

A sudden thought made Dick stumble a little as he sprinted down the few remaining steps in the stairwell and shouldered past the doors. _He_ was doing the same thing… Dick glanced to the side rather sheepishly and turned the corner once he reached the detention level. What he saw almost made him fall over.

Dick came to a dead stop, and feeling returned to his limbs. Wally and Flash were hobbling down the hall coming from the other end. One of Barry's arms was firmly slung around Wally's neck, and he was leaning on him for support as he limped along. One of Wally's sleeves was torn off, and it looked like it was tied around Barry's leg. He was covered in scrapes and bloody bruises like everyone else, but he was in one piece and looked fine for the most part.

 _"KF!"_ he shouted excitedly, running towards them as fast as he could.

Both Wally and Barry looked up in surprise, having been focused on their feet and making sure they didn't lose their balance. Neither of them had seen him come around the corner obviously.

Even from this distance, Dick could see Wally's green eyes widen in shock and light up happily, _"Rob!"_

Barry smiled too and carefully extricated himself from Wally, awkwardly hopping aside to lean against the wall instead. Wally looked after his uncle in confusion, but Dick crashed into him a second later and almost sent both of them to the floor.

Wally wrapped his arms around him tightly as Dick started squeezing the life out of him, "Ow! Jeez – rib cage! Rib cage!"

"You'll heal," Dick dismissed his whining with an offhanded shrug and leaned up to press his lips against Wally's without hesitation. The redheaded speedster seemed startled at first but wasted no time returning the kiss, staggering back a few steps as he tried to support their weight and nearly failed. Dick started to laugh but didn't pull away. He couldn't. He was too bone-shakingly relieved that Wally had made it. Now it seemed a little ridiculous that he'd ever worried in the first place, but judging by the way Wally clung to him just as desperately, he knew the relief wasn't just his own.

They pulled away when they heard Barry start laughing, and that's when Dick realized that he'd just kissed the Flash's nephew right in front of him. He'd kinda sorta forgotten that the distinguished hero was even _there_. Dick had a difficult time keeping his eyes from dropping to the floor, and Wally had turned a bright shade of red that Dick imagined was staining his own face as well.

"What?" Wally mumbled in embarrassment, seeming to shrink a little under his uncle's amusement.

"Nothing," Barry shook his head, still chuckling at them. "Just something I said to Batman a few weeks ago. It was before you were healed enough to leave the…from when your dad first…you know what, nevermind…"

Dick made a mental note to ask Bruce what the heck Barry was talking about once this was all over. He took stock of Wally's injuries and Barry's leg again – just now seeing how severely crooked it was, "What happened to you guys?"

"Rudy got the jump on me," Barry said bitterly as Wally helped support him again. "But he's gone now. For good. A breach opened up in the cell we were in and dragged him out into space."

"Almost got _us_ too," Wally held up a sloppily reloaded grapnel gun, and Dick recognized it as the one he'd blindly thrown down to him earlier. "We owe you for the save."

"And the team you went to help?" Dick asked nervously.

"They're all alive," Barry told him with genuine, heavy relief in his tone. "Kid and I helped patch everyone up as best we could, and we left them with Icon and Mister Miracle. Black Lightning has a pretty nasty concussion, and Firestorm seemed pretty dazed, but no one was worse off than that."

Wally snorted suddenly and gave a quick laugh, "Except for Elongated Man. He's stuck all stretched out for some reason."

Barry seemed to be struggling not to laugh as well, "It's not the first time that's happened; he'll be fine. What about your team up top?"

"Aqualad and Miss M are pretty bad, but I think Zatanna saved them," Dick said reluctantly. Now that he was no longer panicking over Wally, there was room for everyone else in his mind. "I don't know about Vixen or Black Canary. They were still out cold when I came to find you."

Wally sobered then, and his eyes clouded over anxiously. Barry looked at them both sympathetically and gave a small smile, "Well, there's no use getting all upset when we hardly know anything. Let's head back up to the medical bay, and we'll find out."

A second later, Superman's voice crackled in their earpieces, telling everyone that the Manhunters had warped out of the area, and the battle was over for now. Everyone was to rendezvous at the med bay for treatment and further instructions.

"See?" Barry smiled a little wider. "I'm just full of good ideas today."

"Except for running headlong into a trap like a rookie."

Dick turned around at the deep voice and saw Bruce stalking down the hall towards them. He was walking normally but had one arm tucked close to his side oddly and was gritting his teeth like it hurt. Bruce put his other hand on Dick's shoulder, looking perfectly composed, but his fingers dug into his cape and belied how worried he'd been.

" _You're_ the one who sent me down here in the first place…" Flash grumbled, ducking his head a little in mock contrition. "Don't…uh, tell anyone else, will ya? It's a little shameful that my nephew had to save my hide."

Dick watched Wally with interest, wondering what had happened down here. He'd have to ask him later. Barry ruffled Wally's hair teasingly, and Wally looked down in embarrassment.

"He's bad at following orders as well," Bruce said dryly, staring right at Wally when he spoke.

Wally shrank back a little behind his uncle and looked intimidated. Dick felt a spark of annoyance at his adoptive father, and he elbowed him in the side lightly. This earned him a curious stare from Bruce that he promptly ignored.

"Be nice, Bats." Barry shot a devious sort of grin between Wally and Dick. "If everything goes well, we might be in-laws one day!"

Dick felt his face heat up immediately and saw Wally's eyes widen as they turned to his uncle in disbelief. Bruce looked at him, and Dick could all too easily imagine the raised eyebrow he was giving him from behind the mask.

"I can hardly wait," Bruce deadpanned sarcastically, moving forward to take Barry's weight on himself. Wally backed off uncertainly, and Bruce nodded to the end of the hall where the stairwell was. "Both of you head up to the med bay and get your injuries looked at. I'll help Flash."

"Are you sure…?" Wally looked hesitant to leave his uncle.

"I'll be fine," Barry waved him off with a smile. "Be fast, and we'll meet you there in a bit."

Bruce's expression was neutral and gave nothing away, but Dick knew that he was sending them away so that he could get the full details about what happened from Flash.

"Okay…" Wally agreed, but he could obviously tell that something was up.

"Come on," Dick grabbed his arm and pulled him away at a run. "I think we've both got a few broken bones that need to be set."

They ran at normal speed until they were a few landings up the stairs – and well out of sight of Bruce and Barry. Then Wally jerked Dick to a stop and hugged him fiercely, pushing him back against the railing and burying his face in the crook of his neck. Dick didn't mind. He just wound one arm around Wally's shoulders and gripped his back tightly with the other. It was still just such a relief that they'd both survived together.

"I feel like I can breathe again," Wally mumbled against his skin quietly.

"I know. Me too," Dick laughed, pulling away and blinking rapidly as he got dizzy again. Stupid head wound…

Wally didn't miss the _not_ Wally-induced swoon and quickly turned around so that Dick could climb onto his back, "Hop on. I'll carry you. I would have before, but…well, Flash and Batman were there…and-"

"We don't want to make the teasing any worse than it's already going to be," Dick finished the thought for him, gratefully hooking his arms and legs around his…boyfriend. His face went hot again, and he rested his head on Wally's back. That sounded really weird and unbelievably nice at the same time.

"Yeah," Wally laughed, standing up straight. "You might want to close your eyes this time if you're dizzy. I don't want you to throw up on me."

Dick bristled, "Thanks for ruining the mood, Kid Smooth."

" _What_ mood? We're fallin apart, bleeding all over each other."

"I was creating a _different_ mood in my head until you introduced the mental image of me barfing on you."

"If it's just in your head, then that's not a 'mood'. It's a fantasy, dude."

"I wasn't _fantasizing_ about anything!"

"I'm telling you, this is a totally inappropriate time to be undressing me with your eyes," Wally went on like he hadn't heard him. "We almost _died_. And you haven't even bought me dinner yet. Rude…"

Dick pinched a pressure point on Wally's spine that brought him to his knees with a startled gasp, "I'll cripple you for ten minutes if I have to. Just shut your gob and run."

Wally chuckled and got back to his feet, "If this is gonna be one of _those_ relationships, I'm totally game for it."

Dick just fought down his smile and closed his eyes as Wally ran, wondering when exactly their bro banter had turned into sexual banter and very secretly hoping that it would continue.


	31. Chapter 31

[The Watchtower

March 26, 22:00 EST]

Wally was heavily using Dick's presence as a way to keep the hysteria over his father's sudden death lying dormant. He could tell that Dick was just itching to ask him what had happened down in the detention level. Any idiot would be able to see that he was hiding something, and Dick Grayson was _not_ an idiot. Despite how badly he wanted to know, however, Dick hadn't said a word about it, and Wally was unspeakably grateful. He couldn't deal with it right now – maybe later when he knew everyone he cared about was safe and the Manhunter threat was _confirmed_ to be over, but not now.

They sped through the Watchtower as fast as Wally dared with his incorrectly healed injuries and made it to the med bay in less than a minute. He jogged to a stop just inside the doorway, and Dick slid off his back quickly, bracing himself against Wally for a second while he undoubtedly recovered from being carried at superspeed. Honestly, it was a little impressive how quickly he'd adapted to it lately. All joking aside, most people really did throw up moving that fast, but Dick already seemed to be getting as used to it as Aunt Iris and Grandma Joan were. Wally would have to remember to ask Uncle Barry about that later.

The med bay was full of heroes when they arrived. Everyone seemed to be in the same state: burnt costumes, busted lips and black eyes, bruises all over the size of apples, and identical looks of relief on their faces. They'd all kind of started pulling together in smaller groups, too, performing emergency triage out in the halls on the ones who weren't able to even stand.

Dick had filled him in on what happened to their team after he'd fallen through the ceiling, and Wally really wanted to know if everyone was alright or not. The first thing his eyes were drawn to was the giant, green tank sitting off to the side surrounded by a handful of heroes. Wally recognized Guy Gardner in his personalized Lantern uniform standing in the center of it all and saw the beam of light connecting the tank construct to his ring.

 _"Llif htiw tlas retaw! Llif htiw tlas retaw! Llif htiw tlas retaw!"_ Zatanna had both hands on the tank and was shouting the same spell over and over as magically conjured water poured into the already mostly filled ring construct.

Wally focused on the tank itself and peered through the gaps in the people crowded around it. Kaldur was inside it floating upright and motionless, his skin and costume tinted green by Guy's construct and looking eerily wrong. The water he was submerged in swirled around him as Zatanna's spells churned it, pulling threads of blood off him that dispersed almost instantly in the liquid. Wally wanted to zip over to it and demand to know if his friend was alright, but Aquaman was standing right beside the tank with his fists clenched at his sides and a grim look on his face as he stared at his injured protégé. He kind of got the message that Aquaman didn't want anyone else near unless they were capable of helping Kaldur.

Almost on cue, the dark-skinned Atlantean cracked open his eyes and began stirring in the water. Aquaman immediately moved closer and put a hand on the tank, his expression turning into concerned relief. Kaldur didn't try to escape the water. He just brought one arm up and formed a weak thumbs up with his webbed fingers.

Wally didn't know if Kaldur could even tell that he was there or not, but he smiled nonetheless.

Dick tugged on his arm, and Wally looked over at him questioningly, "Yeah?"

"Come on," the boy wonder grinned at him helplessly. "We might as well get our punches in the face from Red Arrow sooner rather than later."

Wally didn't understand for a moment until he saw that Dick was pulling him closer to where the Arrow family was clustered in one of the hospital rooms. Black Canary was sitting upright on the edge of an operating table looking down fondly and tiredly at the three heroes fussing over her. Oliver was the worst. He was kneeling in front of her and trying to clean a deep cut on her leg one-handedly because he had his other arm curled around Artemis and was refusing to let go. For once, Artemis didn't look annoyed with Oliver's displays of affection.

She'd explained to them once that it was because she didn't really know how to respond to her mentor being fatherly. Her own dad, Sportsmaster, had never even showed that he _liked_ her, much less loved her, so she didn't have any experience with a father figure actually caring about her. Wally could relate. The first few times he'd been around Uncle Barry and Jay, he'd been unable to keep himself from internally flinching whenever they reached towards him to tousle his hair or give him a pat on the back.

This time, Artemis didn't look uncomfortable at all with Oliver being overprotective and showing how relieved he was that she was okay. She just dabbed at one of Dinah's bloodier burns with a clean cloth and patiently answered Oliver's inquiries as to whether she was positive she was okay or not. All the while, Oliver switched back and forth between tending to Black Canary's wounds and Artemis'.

Roy was standing beside the bed and carefully removing Dinah's jacket so that he could work on getting little slivers of metal out of her shoulder. He was so focused on his task that he didn't even notice Wally or Dick until Artemis glanced over her shoulder at them and exploded.

"What is wrong with you?!" She threw down the bloody cloth and whirled on them both furiously, the dark red staining her face and hair made her look absolutely terrifying. Before Wally could even think about dodging, Artemis was slugging him in the gut. He doubled over in surprise more than pain and heard Dick's cry of shock as Artemis whacked her bow over his head. "If _either_ of you ever pull such a stupid stunt like that again, I'm going to kill you!"

Wally rubbed his stomach where she'd hit him and shuffled away from her warily. He'd been expecting _Roy_ to be the one to hit him, not Artemis. She reeled back with her fist again, and Wally flinched back, covering his face, "We're sorry!"

Roy caught her arm and gave her a mildly irritated look before stepping between them all and staring down at Wally and Dick with an unreadable expression. He folded his arms across his chest and took in a deep breath through his nose, "I really want to smack the stupid out of both of you right now. Really badly. Like, it's hard to stop myself right now. But I'm going to hug you instead, and you aren't going to ruin it, or I might hit you anyway. Got it?"

Wally and Dick both nodded wordlessly, sparing each other nervous glances out of the corners of their eyes. They stood very still as Roy hooked an arm around each of their necks and pulled them close. He could see Oliver and Dinah watching them happily over Roy's shoulder, and he didn't move until his big brother was done – partly out of the fear of getting smacked but mostly because Roy was shaking, and Wally knew he'd been the reason for it.

When Roy let go, he flicked Wally in the ear and poked Dick in the forehead. Wally just beamed at him as brightly as he could, "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."

"Shut up," Roy grunted moodily and turned his back on them to go finishing picking shrapnel out of Dinah's shoulder. Anyone else who didn't know him as well might have thought he was being a jerk, but Wally knew that Roy was just emotionally frigid. This was him doing his best. Apparently, Dinah thought so too, because she bumped him with her elbow and gave him a proud smile.

Roy scowled at her too.

"So, where's everyone else?" Dick asked quietly. "Did anyone…?"

Die.

Wally turned around and looked out the door at the rest of the medical bay. Some of the rooms were full with Leaguers patching themselves and each other up temporarily, but everyone else was in the halls. Even then, a lot of them were missing. He could see handfuls of Green Lanterns standing around, but aside from Guy and John, Wally didn't recognize any of them. Where were Hal and Kilowog?

"We lost a few Lanterns," Oliver told them solemnly. "They were in the worst part of the fight. It's amazing that there weren't _more_ casualties. I don't think we lost any Leaguers, but I know at least three of them are pretty bad. Hawkwoman, Blue Devil, and Vixen are in surgery right now. They were the worst off, so Terrific, Mid-Nite, and Doctor Light are trying to fix them up first. I saw Martian Manhunter towing in a big group of unconscious Lanterns but couldn't tell for sure who any of them were. They were too far out for me to see."

Wally twisted his fingers together anxiously and ducked back out into the hallway to stare at the doors to the operating rooms. The other heroes were all staying a little bit away and helping each other recover from the fight – all except for Hawkman. He had his back to them all and was standing right in front of the doors with his arms crossed tightly and his wings twitching restlessly every few seconds. Wally guessed he was waiting to hear about his wife's condition and ignoring everything else not related to it.

A few instants later, Wonder Woman opened the doors and came walking out with her head held high and posture rigid like she was a queen. Her costume was torn and her skin blackened in places, but it did nothing to detract from her presence. Superman and Hal followed her out, speaking to each other in low voices with serious looks on their faces. Wally felt his insides loosen from the knots they'd been all tangled up in when he saw Hal alive and well.

Wonder Woman put a hand on Hawkman's shoulder and said something to him. Wally was too far away to hear the words, but the smile on her face and the way Hawkman's wings dropped a little in relief told him that everything was okay. He disappeared into the ward to be with his wife, and Wonder Woman continued on her way, quickly seeking out her younger sister and wrapping an arm around Donna's head carefully. Wonder Girl hugged her tightly around the middle, drawing a laugh from both Amazons and making Wally smile as well.

"Kilowog says they're trying to make a break for the next sector," Hal was saying as he and Superman drew near, still deeply engrossed in their conversation. Wally hung back in the doorway and waited for them to get closer. "He took thirty Lanterns with him, and he's due to report back in another ten minutes."

"Good," Superman nodded. His cape was completely shredded, and he looked like someone had tossed him into a hurricane. "It looks like we won this round. I don't think they'll be coming back any time soon."

"They're not coming back _at all_ ," Hal grinned. He, too, looked terrible. His hair was all messed up, and there was a really bad looking burn spanning his entire back. "The Guardians aren't going to let them go this time. Batman and Question's virus didn't just shut them down for a few minutes; it uploaded a homing beacon into every single one of them. Now, we can track them down wherever they are in the universe. We're hunting these Manhunters down until there aren't any left."

Superman patted him on the back amiably and smiled in relief, "Good. We'll deal with getting your cities looked after while you're gone once we know everyone's status. A lot of Leaguers are going to be down for awhile, and we're probably going to be pulling triple shifts for a few months."

"Fine with me," Hal stopped and waved him off. Superman went over to where Conner was holding an ice pack to M'gann's forehead. She was sprawled out in a hospital bed and it looked like she was speaking with Conner telepathically. Superman knocked on the door for permission to enter and immediately picked up more ice to pile on M'gann's burns. Both she and Conner smiled gratefully at him and welcomed him into their conversation.

Hal was standing with his hands on his hips when he turned around to scan the area and spotted Wally. His smile quickly disappeared, overshadowed by the huge grin that replaced it as he used his ring to fly over.

"You're alright!" he trapped Wally in a huge bear hug, and Wally couldn't help but return it, laughing out loud and trying to avoid touching his burns. "I didn't know what happened to you all after I sealed you in with all those Manhunters."

"We kicked their butts," Wally answered with a sly grin, earning a laugh from Hal and another hug.

"As if I expected anything else," Hal rolled his eyes. Then he froze and really looked at Wally intensely. "You're smiling! Does that mean your uncle's okay?"

Wally's smile faded as flashes of his dad's face and images of him getting sucked out into space returned all at once. He shook them off and nodded, "Yeah, he's okay. His leg is…really bad, but he's gonna make it."

Hal let out a huge sigh and smiled again, arm still hooked over Wally's shoulders when he noticed who all was in the hospital room behind them. He strolled over to the bed where Ollie was still working and yanked the hood back over his head teasingly, "Ugh, you mean _you_ made it out alive, too? That's off-putting."

"Will you get out of here, _Green Bean_?" Ollie pulled his hood back again to see better and smacked Hal's hand away. "I'm trying to have a moment with my family."

"If you're going to stay, then make up some tweezer constructs and help me get all of this shrapnel out of her shoulder," Roy agreed with Oliver, not taking his eyes off his task.

Hal looked at Roy, then at Dinah, and then backed out of the room with a nervous chuckle, "No, no. The last time I touched Black Canary with _anything_ , she gave me a bloody nose."

Dinah glared at him balefully, not budging from her perch even an inch, "You know what you did."

Oliver chuckled quietly, "That's how you got yourself banned from the road trip last year."

Hal made a face at him and flinched when Artemis turned and raised an eyebrow at him. Wally laughed openly at his uncle's best friend as he sulked. It looked like Artemis was totally fitting in with her new family now.

There was a sudden commotion outside, and Hal leaned his head out to see what was going on. The blood drained from his face, and Wally knew something was wrong. He was zipping out into the hallway before anyone could react and dodging through the Leaguers standing around.

It was very quickly apparent what the fuss was over. Batman had just entered the med bay and was mostly carrying Uncle Barry, who was almost completely limp and unable to walk. Wally dashed over breathlessly and tried to lift his uncle's head, "Flash?"

Uncle Barry stirred a little, and his eyelids fluttered but stayed shut.

" _Flash!"_ Wally shouted frantically, feeling his heart start hammering in his chest. He looked up at Batman with wide eyes. "What happened to him?! He was okay just a few minutes ago!"

"He'll be fine," Batman assured him briskly, handing Uncle Barry over to Hal, who had flown over immediately. "But he needs medical attention _now_ before he loses that leg. Can you take him to a STAR labs facility? He can't wait for the others to finish up in the operating rooms."

Hal already had Uncle Barry securely in a ring construct and was flying towards the hangar, "I'm on it. Radio to STAR labs that we're on our way."

Wally took off after him without waiting for permission or taking a moment to say what he was doing. Dick and Artemis were trying to say something to him, but Wally just blew right by them. He wasn't about to leave his uncle's side again, and he couldn't risk slowing down Hal.

They made it to the hangar in a matter of seconds, and Wally almost couldn't believe the destruction he saw. Blood and Manhunter parts were everywhere. Off in one corner, Huntress and Ice were cuffing Manhunter acolytes that were in varying states of unconsciousness and lining them up against the wall.

Wally activated the airlock gate and waited for Hal to catch up. He was vibrating impatiently and very rapidly starting to lose his cool. Everything was moving too slowly. The airlock doors were too slow. Hal was too slow. They had to hurry!

"You're going to slip into relative time if you don't calm down," Hal warned him with an unsure sort of frown as he landed and stepped into the personnel airlock. Wally closed the inner doors and triggered the outer doors to open. The air pressure alarm went off, and Hal expanded his construct to include Wally. "Look, Barry's gonna be fine. He looks a lot worse than he is."

" _You_ look…a lot worse…than…" Uncle Barry mumbled weakly, trailing off before he could finish his juvenile insult. Wally looked over at him in surprise, and Hal just rolled his eyes.

"See? He's already awake and trying to verbally abuse me," Hal shifted Uncle Barry more securely onto his shoulder, making sure his feet weren't touching the construct. "Alright, Wally, you know the drill. Make sure the yellow on your costume doesn't touch the green."

"Right…" Wally said distractedly, bending down and tugging off his boots in a second. He touched the hard light construct with one hand to keep his balance and held the boots in his other.

"You know…" Hal was frowning at Wally's uniform boots. His eyes darted down to Uncle Barry suspiciously. "By the time Wally got his powers, you'd known me for years. You made his shoes yellow on purpose, didn't you?"

Uncle Barry made a noise that sounded very close to a laugh, and Wally relaxed just a little. If he was able to laugh, then he probably wasn't as close to dying as Wally had feared.

The airlock doors opened, and Hal flew them both out. At first, Wally thought they were flying through an asteroid belt until he remembered that the area around the Watchtower was supposed to be open space. He squinted and pressed closer to the walls of Hal's bubble, his eyes going wide when he realized that the 'asteroid belt' was actually a _massive_ field of disassembled Manhunter parts. Hundreds of thousands of pieces floated aimlessly in a sloppy orbit around the Watchtower with Green Lanterns scooping them up with giant green nets and depositing them together. To the right, a colossal spaceship was docked at the bigger airlock and anchored by ten Lanterns. Two more GLs were scanning the entire length of the ship with their rings. Hal passed all of his comrades and made a beeline for Earth, his ring rocketing them down fast enough to mildly impress a speedster.

"Where are you going?" Uncle Barry asked weakly, lifting his head enough to look at the planet.

"San Francisco," Hal replied. "You need a surgeon that understands how to operate on a speedster _and_ respect secret identities. Plus, the STAR labs facility there specializes in studying metahumans. They'll be our best bet."

Uncle Barry shook his head and made a face, "No. Go to Alaska first. The Watchtower's communications are down, and I want to check on my family."

 _"No._ San Francisco first," Hal said slowly like he was speaking to a stubborn toddler. "I'm not going to let you lose your leg. I'll drop you off and go to Alaska _for you_ if you want, but you and Wally are getting medical attention. He's hurt too, in case you didn't notice."

Wally had been all for ignoring what Uncle Barry wanted at first until _he_ was the one being denied the chance to check on Aunt Iris and the others as well. He bristled, "Uh, _no._ You can drop Uncle Barry off at STAR labs, but _I'm_ running up to Alaska to the safe house."

"You're _both_ going to STAR labs!" Hal shot him an irritated look too. "Iris and Jay can survive another few minutes of not knowing whether you two are okay or not. Trust me. They'd rather you two get medical attention first."

"Then go to the STAR labs in Seattle."

"Yeah, it's closer."

"The facility there specializes in psionics and psychology! They don't have any surgeons!"

"Isn't there one in Canada?"

"I think so, but it's in Toronto. We may as well go to San Francisco if we do that."

"Oh my God! What's wrong with you two?!"

"Just fly to Alaska, Hal. Quit being difficult about this."

" _I'm_ being difficult?!" Hal burst out incredulously, glancing between Wally and Uncle Barry with a disbelieving expression. "You two are so – _Fine!_ I'll take you to Alaska. But we're staying for _one_ minute, just long enough for you to see everyone, and then you're both going to shut up while we go to San Francisco. And, if Iris wants to punch you for being stupid, I'm gonna let her!"

Wally just fought down a smile at Hal's tirade and discreetly fist bumped Uncle Barry when the older speedster held out his hand behind Hal's back.

Hal grumbled the entire way there until they entered Earth's atmosphere and he ran out of complaints. Wally watched the planet grow larger and larger, able to clearly make out North America beneath the clouds and storm systems traveling across it. They descended straight down, and Hal kept them above the coastline, touching down in Cordova at a small house on the outskirts of the town.

Wally looked on at the modest yellow house nestled against the thick, green forest and mountainside. He pulled on his boots and sped across the front lawn as soon as his feet hit the ground, not waiting for Hal or Uncle Barry. He was only a few feet from the door when he noticed the blown out windows and the way the front door was bent outwards like something had been thrown against it from the inside.

He paused in place, staring uncomprehendingly at the mild damage and stumbling up to the door while a tingling numbness spread out from his chest. Behind him, Hal and Uncle Barry were slowly making their way up the driveway.

"Kid, what is it?" he heard Uncle Barry call to him.

Wally didn't answer. He lunged forward and shouldered the door open with a loud crash, darting into a completely destroyed living room, "Jay! _Max!_ "

He heard the distant sound of Hal's ring activating outside and a louder shuffle of movement further into the house. Wally sped around the overturned couch and into the kitchen, almost running headlong into Joan as she hurried out to meet him.

"Wally!" she put both hands on his shoulders, and Wally could see a bruise flowering above her left eye. Her normally perfectly curled hair was sticking up in a messy tangle, and her clothes were rumpled. "You're alright."

"What happened?!" Wally side-stepped her and saw a wheelchair lying on its side by the shattered sliding glass doors leading to the backyard.

"Professor Zoom," Joan told him quickly.

Wally's heart dropped into his feet, and he turned back to face her in horror, "What…?"

"He found us," she said shakily as Uncle Barry and Hal were just now coming into the house. "Max and Jay tried to fight him, but you know neither of them are at their full strength right now. The best they could do was try and lead him away, but all he wanted was Iris."

"Where are they?" Uncle Barry asked with a choked voice, his eyes angry and terrified at the same time.

"Jay and Max were losing, and it didn't take Iris long to figure out that she was the reason why Zoom was here. She ran into the woods to draw him away and keep him from the rest of us," Joan was shaking now, leaning heavily on the counter to keep herself upright.

"Oh my God," Wally breathed, pivoting on his heel and running through the broken doors immediately.

 _"Wally!"_ Hal shouted after him and set Uncle Barry down so he could give chase.

But Wally didn't slow down to let him catch up. He quickly located his aunt's footprints in the light snow covering the ground and followed them as fast as he could push himself. In three seconds, he passed Jay. The elder speedster was panting and leaning against a tree as he clutched his legs, face twisted up in pain. He was fine – just feeling the repercussions of trying to run before he was fully healed. Wally didn't stop to help him.

Max came into view in twelve seconds. He was going significantly slower and clutching his side that was stained red with blood. Max sensed Wally approaching and glanced back only to wave him off, "Go back! He's too-"

Wally outstripped him and was out of earshot before Max could finish the sentence. The heart-pounding fear gripping him was mutating into a burning fury with every step he took. Wally remembered every word Professor Zoom had said to him in the Manhunter compound. He'd planned on killing Uncle Barry and then taking his place as Aunt Iris' husband. As if she wouldn't notice! As if she'd _ever_ let him touch her!

Now it seemed, since the plan had failed, Zoom was just going to kidnap Aunt Iris.

Wally clenched his jaw so tightly that he felt his teeth threatening to crack. He pushed himself faster, following the two sets of footprints in the snow at just under the speed of sound. He'd tear out Professor Zoom's _throat_ before he ever let him hurt his aunt!

Seconds later, a bone-chilling scream nearly brought him to his knees.

It wasn't…

He kept running, following the screams until he reached a gap in the forest and saw two figures a few yards away. Wally slowed to a lazy jog and stopped right beside a thick tree, his brain struggling to comprehend what his eyes were seeing.

All the while, the raw screaming pierced his ears.

Only…it wasn't Aunt Iris' scream.

Both Professor Zoom and Aunt Iris were in the clearing, but it wasn't what Wally had expected to find. Zoom was on the ground, writhing and thrashing rigidly like his muscles were in full seizure. A strangled shriek of pure agony was gargling from his mouth like he was choking on his tongue.

Aunt Iris stood above him, angry tears streaming down her face and sobs tearing from her throat. She was clutching something in both trembling hands and pointing it at Zoom. After a moment, the screaming stopped, and Professor Zoom went limp on his side, panting and gasping for air. He clawed at something around his neck and jerked a little like he was trying to stand up. Aunt Iris just took in a shuddering breath of air and aimed a sharp kick at his head. Her green eyes narrowed in hatred, and she pressed the device in her hands again.

Immediately, Professor Zoom started seizing again. His mismatched blue eyes bugged out in shock, and his head slammed into the ground repeatedly. Aunt Iris never took her eyes off him. She just kept pressing the button again and again, watching Zoom writhe uncontrollably in pain.

She was electrocuting him with an inhibitor collar. Wally knew without a shadow of a doubt. He'd never forget the feeling as long as he lived, and the thick, black band around Zoom's neck was more than telling.

Wally ran to his aunt's side and couldn't help but stare at Zoom in blank confusion.

Aunt Iris' head turned the second she spotted him, and she nearly dropped the inhibitor collar's remote in her rush to throw both arms around him, "Wally, honey, you're okay!"

Likewise, Wally locked his arms around her too. He tried to be relieved that _whatever_ was happening wasn't reversed, with Aunt Iris in trouble, but he couldn't really feel anything beyond the monumental bewilderment. When she finally let him go, still smoothing his hair back and kissing the side of his face repeatedly, Wally found his voice, "What… _how_ did you…?"

 _"You!"_ Zoom snarled, catching sight of him when he heard Wally's voice. He moved to get up again, and Aunt Iris mercilessly electrocuted him. Professor Zoom collapsed into a convulsing heap on the freezing ground.

"Try to hurt my nephew _one more time_ , and I'll keep this up until your heart explodes!" Aunt Iris screamed at him, her knuckles white from gripping the collar's remote so tightly. A shiver went up Wally's spine, and he was reminded of all the documentaries he'd ever seen of mama bears going berserk while protecting their young.

Then Wally really focused on the collar. He remembered Uncle Barry saying that he'd given her something capable of taking down a speedster. Was this what he'd meant? An inhibitor collar? It wasn't a foolproof thing, but it was still a staggering show of trust that he'd give her the means to disable him so effectively.

"What did you _do_? How…How did you get that collar on him?" he breathed curiously. A part of him was horrified at what he was seeing, but it was being buried beneath a sense of morbid satisfaction.

"I knew he'd follow me, so I snuck out and ran as far as I could while he was fighting Max and Jay," Aunt Iris said quietly. "Then, when he came after me pretending to be Barry, I went along with it until he let his guard down."

Wally's jaw hung open a little in shock, "Seriously?! He could have killed you! Or worse!"

"I didn't have a choice," Aunt Iris curled an arm around him affectionately, giving him a small smile. "Barry isn't the only one who can protect his family."

Professor Zoom tried to get to his feet, and Aunt Iris zapped him again, this time keeping the current on until he passed out. Wally just looked down at the man who had tortured him and carefully took the remote from his aunt. She understood without him having to say a word and handed it over silently.

Wally turned the small remote over in his hands, running his thumb over the button lightly. It would be so easy to push it, and he _really_ wanted that power. He wanted to know what it felt like to cause Professor Zoom the same kind of pain he'd been dealt in the Manhunter base – to get revenge. No one would criticize him – not after what he'd gone through.

Aunt Iris had done it. But, she'd been using the collar in self-defense. Wally poised his thumb right on the button and held it still. If _he_ electrocuted him _now_ , when Professor Zoom was already down and the danger had been neutralized, it would bring Wally down to his level.

And Wally would rather die than risk that.

He opened the compartment in his glove and locked the remote inside. Aunt Iris smiled at him with pride, and Wally finally felt closure. It was all over. The Manhunters, Professor Zoom, his father…

He sighed and plopped down in the snow, still holding onto his aunt's hand. She sat down beside him and lay down wearily, closing her eyes and draping her free arm over her face.

"…Is Barry alive?"

"Yeah," Wally looked at her, laughing a little to himself. "He's hurt, but Hal thinks he'll be fine. We almost didn't come here first. Hal wanted to take us to a STAR labs hospital right away."

He couldn't even _think_ about what Zoom would've done to Aunt Iris if they'd been even ten minutes late. She might have had everything under control, but you never knew anything for sure with Zoom.

"I'm grateful right now that you didn't," Aunt Iris squeezed his hand and then tried to look stern. "But don't do it again. Get _yourselves_ looked after first."

"This is like the _worst_ time to present your case for that," Wally laughed. "You know we're not going to listen to that, right?"

"Shush," she smacked him playfully. "I'm your _aunt_. You listen to _me_ , not your meathead uncle."

"I'm gonna tell him you said that," Wally teased.

"Go ahead."

They stayed there for a few seconds, periodically double checking that Professor Zoom was still out cold, until Hal came soaring overhead with his ring blazing hot. He landed beside Professor Zoom and strategically trapped him in glowing green shackles by his red boots, dangling him upside down.

"Are you okay?!" Hal shouted over worriedly, and it occurred to Wally how it must look with him and his aunt both lying down for no reason.

Aunt Iris held up her arm without moving from her spot and flashed him a thumbs up. Wally just grinned. Hal came over to make sure neither of them were lying and crossed his arms above them, "Iris, you need to be a Green Lantern. You're hardcore."

"No, thanks." Aunt Iris smiled serenely. "I think I'll stick with my speedsters."

Wally exchanged a grin with her and shrugged at Hal.

"Fair enough," Hal chuckled. "You want a ride back, or-"

"Go get _him_ locked up," Aunt Iris shook her head and nodded pointedly at Professor Zoom. "And take Barry to STAR labs. Don't let him bully you. Just tell him we're all fine and that I refuse to see him until he's had medical attention. That'll give him some incentive. Go with him, Wally. I'll go find Max and Jay myself."

"Yes, ma'am," Wally got to his feet and held out a hand to help her up as well.

"I'll meet you both in Central. And, Wally?" she pulled him into another hug. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Me too," Wally held her right back. "I can't wait to tell everyone that my aunt took down Professor Zoom all by herself."

She just pushed him towards Hal gently and shook her head like he was being silly. Wally saw her eyes flicker over to Zoom for a moment and darken considerably in anger.

Hal started to take off back towards the house, and Wally followed him at a steady pace, trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened since this morning and having a hard time believing that it was all real.


	32. Chapter 32

[Mount Justice

March 28, 15:00 EST]

Wally walked up to Dick's room in Mt. Justice and quickly punched in the secret code to the electronic lock set into the wall. He stepped forward, expecting the door to slide open, and nearly rammed face first into it when the door didn't budge. He keyed in the six digit number again and was denied when the keypad buzzed at him and flashed red, "What the…?"

He gave up and just knocked on the door after the fourth try. It opened a moment later, and Dick was standing there in his Robin uniform, just finishing up smoothing a domino mask over his eyes. He moved aside to let Wally in, "Hey! Sorry, I was just changing. Batman called me to zeta to Gotham in twenty minutes."

"Is Two-Face on the loose again?" Wally flopped down on the bed, leaning back on his hands.

"He didn't say," Dick fastened his utility belt around his waist. "He was being typically cryptic."

"As usual?" Wally smiled, kicking his legs back and forth idly. Dick just rolled his eyes. "Hey, did your door combination change? It wouldn't let me in."

"Uh, yeah…" Dick turned slightly red and looked down at his feet in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Bruce and Alfred kind of decided that if we're going to be dating now, it would be 'inappropriate' for you to know the code to my room."

"Oh, awkward…" Wally cringed.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Dick covered his face and groaned. "Have you had 'the talk' yet?"

"No," Wally answered slowly, his eyes narrowing in nervous suspicion. "High school kind of took care of that."

"Then get ready. Bruce is going to talk to Flash about it."

"What…?!" He whispered in quiet horror. Wally imagined Batman cornering him somewhere and giving him some terrifying 'compromise my son's virtue and I'll cripple you' bat-talk.

"Oh, how's your uncle doing?" Dick looked up like he'd just remembered.

"STAR labs fixed his leg completely," Wally reported happily, shaking off his day dream – or more like day _nightmare_. "He just took a couple laps around the country this morning."

"I can't even fathom how someone heals from a mostly severed leg in under a day," Dick just shook his head with a stumped sort of frown.

"A big, whopping dose of Speed Force energy," Wally answered with a wry grin and a shrug.

Dick looked up at him then, "Professor Zoom mentioned the Speed Force. What is it?"

"Uh, we don't really know yet," Wally made a face. "Max is looking into it – like meditating and stuff, but Jay and Uncle Barry don't really believe in it. Jay keeps teasing him and saying he's the zen master of speed."

"What do _you_ think?"

Wally fell silent, frowning down at his knees pensively for a moment, "I think it exists. I don't know what _it_ is, but Max is kind of the first of us speedsters. He's actually traveled through _time_ before. If he thinks it's worth researching, then I trust him. But, I also see where Uncle Barry and Jay are coming from. Zoom is criminally insane, so anything he says is usually either a lie or a trap."

"Like the Joker…" Dick said suddenly, his face going pale from dark memories. "You can't trust what he says, but you can't ignore it either."

"Exactly," Wally sighed. For a few minutes, they both sat in tense silence until he forced his unease away and flashed Dick a smile. "But, Zoom's in a Watchtower holding cell right now in la la land while M'gann's uncle picks through his mind."

"I had more faith in the holding cells before your dad was broken out of them," Dick didn't look reassured.

"Yeah, but this time, they've got eight Leaguers guarding the cell. Plus, Batman ordered enough tranquilizers to keep a speedster down for fifty years."

"That's true…"

Wally watched Dick's bad mood break down and his shoulders start shaking with quiet laughter.

_"Recognize: Aqualad – B02"_

Both looked up as the computer announced Kaldur's arrival, and Wally leapt off the bed with a grin, "He's back early. I thought Aquaman said it would take at least two days before Kaldur was okay to leave Atlantis."

Dick got to his feet as well but grabbed Wally's arm before he could zip over to the door. Wally paused and turned back to regard him curiously. Dick was chewing at the inside of his lip anxiously and staring at him with unsure eyes, "I wanted to ask you something before we go out there with the others."

"Okay," Wally said. "What is it?"

"It's about _us_ …" Dick started carefully. "Uhm…what do you want to tell everyone?"

Wally just blinked at him, his brain scrambling to come up with something to answer with.

"I mean, a few people already know," Dick hurried to explain. "Like Roy. And Bruce and your uncle."

"And Joan," Wally blurted suddenly.

"What?"

"Joan knew before we did, I think…" he clarified awkwardly.

"Right," Dick shifted uncomfortably. "Well, all of those turned out better than expected, and I wanted to know if you wanted to tell the Team about us dating or if you wanted to wait…"

Wally really thought about the sudden question, weighing the pros and cons like a list in his head. If they told their teammates, there was the risk that someone might not be okay with it. Realistically, there was no way he and Dick could keep it hidden forever, but what was the best way to go about it? They could study each person individually first and tell them one by one if it seemed like it would turn out well, but that might leave someone out, and it would _definitely_ overcomplicate things and create secrets.

"I'm not…actually ready to tell anyone else yet," Wally said slowly, watching Dick closely for a negative reaction. He hoped Dick wouldn't get offended or think Wally was ashamed of him. "I mean – I'd like to tell my aunt and maybe Jay, but I kinda just want to focus on the two of us for awhile before we think about letting the rest of the Team in on it. Is that okay?"

"More than okay," Dick sighed immediately, visibly relaxing as the tenseness left his posture. "I was really hoping you'd say that."

"Want to troll them all mercilessly about it too, so that when we _do_ tell them, they're all mad?" Wally held out his gloved hand and offered up a mischievous smirk.

"Sounds perfect," Dick cackled, taking his hand immediately. "Like you pulled the idea right out of my brain."

Wally turned around and pulled Dick onto his back. The raven-haired boy wrapped his arms around Wally's shoulders and gave him a quick peck on the side of his jaw. Wally squeezed his legs, "Hold on tight."

He opened the door and sped out of the room, running through the mountain to the briefing room. Everyone was already there, crowded around Kaldur by the zeta tubes and talking all at once. The Atlantean certainly did _look_ better, but he still seemed a tad unsteady on his feet.

It was a minor detail that Wonder Girl seemed _all_ too eager to help him with. Donna was practically glued to his side, giving him a rock hard arm to lean on. Wally snuck a look over at Dick, and they both grinned conspiratorially. Those two were so perfect for each other.

Wally dashed over to Kaldur and held out a fist that he hesitantly bumped with his own, "How ya feelin? Aquaman wouldn't let any of us visit you, and we were getting worried. Well, half of us can't survive the pressure down there, but you know what I mean."

"I do," Kaldur smiled at him patiently and nodded. "I am well, I promise. This episode was no worse than when Red Tornado's 'siblings' attacked the cave."

"It was pretty similar too. Homicidal robots trying to kill us and all," Dick tossed a meaningful grin at Artemis. Wally knew that they'd both had to fight off the Reds together while the rest of the Team had been incapacitated.

"Except instead of three, there were two thousand," she pointed out dryly, clearly not remembering it fondly.

"We are _really_ going to have to figure out a way to fix this fire weakness of yours," Zatanna teased M'gann and Kaldur.

"My king has been looking into it for many months now," Kaldur explained wearily, letting Donna help him away from the zeta tubes. They headed for the kitchens. "But I have long accepted the risk of dehydration as one of the consequences of choosing to walk on the surface world."

"Not good enough," Wally said loftily, speeding over to the island counter and perching on a stool. "We'll come up with something."

M'gann nodded in agreement with him, "Zatanna, aren't there any spells that can help?"

"Magic is more of a temporary fix," Zatanna said reluctantly, sending an apologetic glance over at Kaldur. "I don't know any permanent spells yet, but I could look through my dad's library."

"It is not necessary," Kaldur assured her quickly, giving out an easy smile. "I appreciate the gesture, but I will be fine. Every day that I spend on land helps me to adapt a little more to the change in environment. It becomes easier each time. But, I would like to know how all of _you_ have healed."

"Donna and Conner are completely fine, of course," Artemis jerked her thumb over her shoulder where Conner was standing quietly behind them all. He straightened up in surprise when Donna offered her hand for a high five and smiled before smacking it. Artemis rolled her eyes at them and smoothed her unrestrained hair back away from her forehead, revealing a neat line of stitches. "So is Wally – he healed in like an hour. The _rest_ of us are still being glued back together."

"It's not that bad," Dick grinned. He was sporting several stitches on his forehead as well and a few along his arms. Zatanna's left arm was in a cast, and M'gann had been slathered down with a special burn ointment and had a good portion of her body covered in bandages.

Kaldur seemed to be looking them all over himself just to be sure of Dick's words, "What happened to the Justice League? My king refused to tell me what was happening. He insisted that I rest."

"Can you believe no one died?" M'gann asked brightly in relief before sobering quickly. "I mean, except for all those Green Lanterns…"

"They're working on rebuilding the Watchtower right now," Dick told him. "And covering the cities of the heroes that are still too hurt to patrol."

"The Manhunters have been defeated?" Kaldur looked unsure.

Donna nodded beside him, "My sister told me that the Green Lanterns chased them all the way into the next space sector. They will be hunted down to the last android."

"All the acolytes that attacked the Watchtower have been rounded up too," Conner added.

"This has ended…" Kaldur paused, searching for the right words. "Much tidier than I expected."

"Right?" Wally grinned widely. "And there's something else, too. _We_ haven't been benched."

Kaldur frowned in confusion, so Dick explained for him, "After something big like this happens, the League's default seems to be putting our Team on suspension, but they didn't this time. They're finally treating us like equals."

"They _should_ ," Artemis crossed her arms. "We fought beside them in the Watchtower and almost _died_. I think we've more than earned it."

"This has been a sore subject for you all," Donna guessed, eying them one by one to see if she was right.

"A little," M'gann admitted, giving a little shrug out of embarrassment. Then her eyes went wide in excitement, and she flew forward to grasp Donna's hands. "So, are you going to be part of the Team, or was the Watchtower battle just a onetime thing?"

"I would like to join," Donna began formally, but a smile cracked through her regal expression. Wally had a feeling that the whole majestic aura thing was more Wonder Woman's style and Donna was just trying to make her proud. "I _really want_ to join, but it is up to my sister. She denied my requests to be her partner for so long. Truthfully, I think that I would still be on Themyscira if my skills hadn't been needed during the Manhunter invasion. Wonder Woman made a sudden decision to bring me along, and she has not had the free time yet to tell me if I may stay in Man's world or if I have to return to the island."

"Well, all of us want you on the team," Dick said reassuringly. "You definitely make a good addition."

"Thank you," Donna blushed a little and clasped her hands behind her back, sneaking a sideways look at Kaldur. "I would also love to work with everyone here."

Just then, a smaller monitor similar to the one in the mission briefing room and fixed to the kitchen wall turned on with a soft mechanical chirp. Wally turned in his seat and saw Batman's face looking back at them stoically.

"Robin," Batman's terse voice issued from the speakers. "I need you to return to Gotham."

Dick straightened up and nodded at the screen, "Yes, sir. I'll zeta over now."

Batman didn't respond, and the monitor went dark a moment later.

"Off to do the Dynamic Duo thing?" Wally teased, resting his elbow on the counter and leaning his chin on his fist. He tossed a wink at Dick, who very maturely stuck his tongue out at him before anyone else noticed.

"I'll catch you guys later," Dick elbowed him in the side fondly and headed out of the kitchen after waving everyone goodbye.

Wally just stared after him silently, not liking that Dick was disappearing so soon but knowing he'd probably be back at the cave tomorrow. His eyes traveled over the sharp lines of Dick's back and legs and Wally frowned to himself. How had he never noticed before how good Dick looked walking away? That seemed like something that should have been brought to his attention a _long_ time ago.

What he was thinking must have been very clear on his face, because when Wally finally tore his eyes off his boyfriend, he found Conner watching him with a frown. Wally tried not to look like he'd just been caught doing something bad and ignored how Superboy was glancing back and forth between him and where Dick had just left. Clearly, Conner would have to be one of the first people they talked to about their new relationship. Kryptonians were very observant…

Wally heaved a giant sigh and glanced around at all the others right at the same time that the zeta tube fired up, "So, anyone get wind of what our next mission's gonna be?"

_"Recog-"_

"If I had to guess, I'm thinking second sweeps of the Manhunter bases all over the planet," A flash of red zoomed up to them, and then Uncle Barry was standing there with one hand resting lightly on Wally's shoulder.

_"-nize: Flash 04"_

"Tracking down and capturing Manhunter acolytes, that kind of thing. But, that's up to Batman. I'm sure he'll assign you all something soon," Uncle Barry continued, seemingly oblivious to the fact that his sudden appearance had startled everyone. Then his expression turned a little apologetic, and he looked right at Wally. The hand on his shoulder squeezed lightly, "Except for you, Kid…"

For a second, Wally wasn't sure what he meant. He just stared up at his uncle in confusion until it hit him. Then Wally's eyes went wide in disbelief, and his mouth dropped open, "Oh, _no._ No _way!_ Are you joking?! We were _just_ talking about the Team not getting taken off active duty like ten minutes ago, and now here you are benching me!"

"Calm down," Uncle Barry looked taken aback by his sudden anger. He held up his hands non-threateningly. "I'm not benching you _or_ the Team."

"I mean, a whole lot of stuff happened to me, but I really don't want to lounge around and brood about it. Denial is like my method of operation," Wally spoke over his uncle, rambling frantically until he realized what Uncle Barry said. "Wait…you're not…? But…?"

"I'm pulling you off the Team because I need my partner for a few weeks," Uncle Barry smiled easily and put his hands on his hips.

Wally stared at him in blank confusion for a few seconds, "For what?"

"There's still an unforgivably high number of Velocity dealers on the loose," Uncle Barry told him seriously. "And we're going to have a nine man team of speedsters hunting them down across the country."

" _Nine?"_ M'gann asked, her eyes going wide in awe. "I didn't know there were so many."

"Well, Max Mercury and the first Flash are both retired. They only help out in extreme emergencies, so they aren't really in the public eye anymore. And this'll be Johnny Quick's daughter Jesse's first time out on patrol," he explained.

"Whoa, I get to meet Jesse?" Wally perked up suddenly. He'd been waiting to meet Johnny's daughter for a long time. His uncle and Jay were great, but a speedster his own age would be awesome to hang out with! "Is she coming with?"

Uncle Barry nodded, " _And_ Red Trinity. They feel partially responsible for Velocity, so they're taking it as personally as we are."

"When are we starting?" Wally hopped off the stool eagerly. He was excited to meet Jesse, but he really wanted to finally see Red Trinity too. Everyone had told him how they'd offered to help and given up potentially damning information about themselves even though they didn't know who Wally was. Just to help rescue him. He at least wanted to thank them personally.

"Officially? In five hours, but you and I are splitting off on our own to bring in one of the worst suppliers before we coordinate with the others," Uncle Barry ruffled his hair with a grin.

"They jealous?" Wally laughed.

Uncle Barry's chuckle mirrored his own, "Johnny is."

"Alright," Wally threw his hands up and grabbed his goggles, pulling them down over his eyes. He tossed an absent-minded wave at his teammates. "I'm ready. Let's go. I'll see you guys in a few weeks after I finish trashing all the drug lords from coast to coast."

Kaldur and Conner both broke out in subdued grins at that, but the girls all rolled their eyes and made exhausted sounding noises. Artemis in particular looked like she wanted to at least hit him. Uncle Barry grabbed the back of his collar before he could speed off, "Hold on just a second. I've got some good news before we take off."

"What is it?" Wally puzzled, exchanging a confused look with Zatanna and Donna.

"Martian Manhunter finished looking through Professor Zoom's memories," he began. Wally felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end at the mention of the Reverse Flash. His heart stuttered a little in dread. "He dug through everything and found that Zoom never told anyone our identities."

Wally's eyes went wide in disbelief, "But he _hates_ us. He was planning on killing me right in front of you."

His uncle's face instantly darkened in fury for a second before he composed it into something neutral. A low voltage bolt of lightning arced off of him and struck the counter like a whip, leaving a blackened streak splashed across it. M'gann reeled back in alarm, and even Conner flinched away from the sudden and violent mood swing. Uncle Barry took a step back and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, "Sorry…"

"Wouldn't he want to do everything he could to ruin our lives?" Wally continued carefully, eyeing the lightning strike in silent surprise. "Like, he _really_ hates us."

"Professor Zoom is also an egomaniac," Uncle Barry was back in control of himself, rocking back on his heels restlessly. "He wanted to keep that information to himself and be the only one to have that kind of power over us. Your dad was the only other acolyte who knew. Martian Manhunter went through the minds of all the acolytes we captured at the Watchtower, and none of them had any idea who you were – even the ones that were there when you escaped."

"Really?" Wally cocked an eyebrow and looked up a little at the ceiling, chewing at the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. "That's…tidy."

"Not completely," Uncle Barry sighed, knowing exactly what he'd meant. Neither of them had expected all of this to end as neatly as it had. All the loose bits were tying themselves up surprisingly well. "There's no way to know if your father told anyone…not anymore…"

Wally closed his eyes and was grateful that his teammates were keeping quiet and giving him time to think, "So, what now?"

"Well, we only have one option: wait and see what happens. Martian Manhunter seems to think that your father was like Zoom – wanting to keep it to himself. So, there's a good chance we're in the clear, but there's no way to know for sure," Uncle Barry said evenly. He took a deep breath and crossed his arms over his chest firmly. "However, I'm not willing to let this affect my life. I'm not going to let your dad win. We're going to be smart about it, but we can return to our lives. Both of us will be on high alert for a long time, and we'll have the entire Justice League watching our backs."

"What about…?"

"Your aunt's proven that she can take care of herself," Uncle Barry smiled wryly. "And I'll have her armed to the teeth, don't worry."

Wally took a few seconds to think about it all. He drank in his uncle's confidence and decided to match it with his own, "I _do_ kinda miss school."

Uncle Barry just laughed, throwing an arm around his shoulders, "No you don't."

"Where are you starting your mission?" Kaldur asked politely.

"That's classified," Uncle Barry said loftily, strolling back towards the cave's hangar entrance without offering anything more. He dragged Wally along with him, still keeping him in a half headlock. "You were ready to go, weren't you?"

"Uh…yeah?"

"Excellent!" Uncle Barry laughed, holding up one hand and waving at the Team without looking back. "Good luck on your own missions. I'll make sure to let Wally drop by in a few days."

Wally twisted around in his uncle's grasp and took in one last glance at his teammates, giving his own bewildered wave and getting confused stares in return. He stumbled along in the awkward position until they were out of sight and then wriggled free, pushing his goggles back onto his forehead, "Where _are_ we going?"

"I'll tell you in a second," he teased, winking impishly at him. "Race you to the hangar."

They were both blurs of color to anyone who had trouble counting how many times a hummingbird's wings flapped with the naked eye. The distance wasn't even close to a warm-up, but Wally still gave it his all, speeding through the hallways and doors right beside his uncle. They laughed the whole way to the hangar where Uncle Barry tagged M'gann's bioship a half second before he did.

"So _slow_ ," Uncle Barry pretended to marvel, ducking out of the way when Wally grinned and took a swipe at him.

"Just give me some room to stretch my legs, old man," Wally countered. "Then we'll see who's slow."

Uncle Barry just triggered the opening mechanism for the hangar door, nodding and laughing quietly. Part of the ceiling separated from the rest and dropped to the floor like a ramp, revealing a dazzling sunny day outside and bright green grass.

Wally zipped up the ramp and stood in the middle of the Rhode Island mountainside with a huge grin on his face. He took in a deep breath of fresh air and turned to look at his uncle, feeling the heat of the sun seep in through his uniform, "Okay, now I actually _do_ need to know where we're going. Unless all you're going to do is give me a direction to run, which would be really terrible."

"Why would I do that? You'd have to follow me the whole time, and we wouldn't be able to race," Uncle Barry smirked, obviously enjoying how impatient Wally was getting. "We're going south…"

Wally fixed him with an unamused glare.

"To Gotham," he finished, laughing.

Wally froze, dropping the frown in surprise, "Gotham?"

"Mmhmm. That's where the biggest kingpin is. _Of course_ ," Uncle Barry spoke like it was obvious. It kind of was – Gotham being Gotham and all… "Batman did most of the work for us, and we're heading over to help with the takedown."

"But…Robin zeta'd over there a little while ago. Aren't they doing the duo thing?" Wally didn't understand.

"We misled you both," his uncle grinned like a little kid telling a secret he wasn't supposed to. "My idea."

"I get to work with Rob on this one?!" Wally asked excitedly.

Uncle Barry nodded happily, "And M'gann when we get to Chicago, Artemis and Ollie in Star, Keystone, Central, Coast City-"

"Is Hal going to help out too?"

"Not Hal," his uncle shook his head. "He left yesterday with the rest of the Lanterns to go chase down the Manhunters. Roy is guarding Coast City for him right now with _someone_ else. He and Hal wouldn't say who."

'Cheshire,' Wally thought to himself smugly. He made a mental note to keep an eye out for her while he was there – partly so that he could tell Dick all about it later and also because Cheshire had tried to drown him once and he was still a little bitter about it. Although, what Uncle Barry said made it sound like Hal knew Cheshire would be there. That was weird. Wally couldn't really see Hal being okay with an international assassin running around in his city while he was gone…unless he knew about Roy and her. That kind of made sense. Roy wasn't really able to talk to Ollie about these kinds of things, and Hal had been the only adult figure in his life besides Dinah to reach out to him. Wally would have to ask Roy about it when they got to California.

"Right," he dusted his hands off and crouched into a running stance. "Then let's go. I'm ready to wipe the floor with you."

"Jeez," Uncle Barry said in mock exasperation. "You work through that block you had on your speed and suddenly you think you can beat _me_ in a race?"

"You scared?"

"Only about how sad you're gonna be when you lose," Uncle Barry pulled a face.

" _I_ think-" Wally broke off suddenly and darted past his uncle, running southwest as fast as he could. He ripped across the harbor and was seconds away from the state border when Uncle Barry caught up.

They cut through the Long Island Sound and Manhattan, trading the lead every few seconds and genuinely struggling to keep it. Wally pushed himself as hard as he could, glancing at his uncle beside him and finding that he was trying just as much to win. Unless Uncle Barry was holding back, Wally was actually keeping pace with him. A wide grin spread across his face, and he kept running, cutting through the air like a knife. He'd waited such a long time to run with his uncle without slowing him down – to actually keep pace with him. He didn't even care about winning the race anymore.

The small smile on his uncle's face told him that he felt the same way.

They reached New Jersey in minutes, and Gotham City greeted them with stormy grey clouds and the urban sounds of honking traffic and wailing police sirens. Uncle Barry led him deep into the city – into the Diamond District where they ran right up the side of the tallest skyscraper and came to a halt on top of the roof. Directly on the other side, two shadowy figures perched beside stone gargoyles carved into the railing at one corner. Wally marveled at how _dark_ Gotham looked even in the middle of the day.

"You're such a cheater," Uncle Barry had Wally in a loose headlock the second they stopped. Wally grabbed his uncle's arm and went dead weight to try and get out of it, smiling at his mild laughter.

"Jay taught me that one," Wally shrugged.

"You're late," a deep, gravelly voice called over to them.

Wally looked up and saw Batman standing beside Dick, who was looking surprised at their sudden entrance.

"We _literally_ raced over here as fast as we could, Bats," Uncle Barry rested his hands on his hips. "And now we're waiting on you. What's the plan?"

Batman just stared at him disapprovingly for a moment before launching into a brief rundown of what he needed the pair of speedsters to do. Dick snuck over during the explanation and held out a gauntleted hand for a fist bump, which Wally gladly gave him before entwining their fingers lightning fast for just an instant. A GCPD blimp slowly meandered between the buildings below, and Wally couldn't help but duck down to whisper into Dick's ear, his eyes still glued to the zeppelin and a devious smile lighting up his face, " _Dude_. How sweet would it be to ride on top of one of those?"

Dick looked over his shoulder at the surveillance blimp before turning back around with an equally sly grin. He bumped Wally's shoulder with his own and shot back, "Why don't we dedicate our first date to finding out?"

Excitement bubbled up in Wally's chest, and he pressed his forehead to Dick's, "You bring the grapnel guns, and I'll bring all the handsome."

Dick snorted derisively and only smiled wider, "You're such an egotistical dork. I love it."

Wally just winked at him suavely, "So, what – Friday at 7?"

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading! I hope you enjoyed the story.   
> I'm currently working on the third part of Mainline to be titled 'Zoom'. I'll upload it as soon as I finish chapter one. :)


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